


The Legend of the Silver Stargazer

by lieano



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Medieval, First Meetings, Happy Ending, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Magic, Slow Burn, Stars, Wishes, sex mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-20 14:45:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10664838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieano/pseuds/lieano
Summary: The only things Niles loved were his life and the stars.---Multichapter Fairy Tale AU written for Zerodin Week 2017.





	1. Book of Stardust

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Zerodin Week 2017!  
> Please check it out here: https://zerodinweek.tumblr.com/ and consider contributing this week!
> 
> This is a multichapter so I promise the end of this chapter isn't the end! lol It's kind of a slow burn, so there isn't muuuuch romance in this chapter. But there will be tomorrow I promise. Every day for Zerodin Week I'll upload a new chapter that will correspond with that day's prompts.
> 
> I kind of drew inspiration from a lot of random fairy tales, nothing in particular. I hope it's entertaining and fun! Leave me a comment, let me know what you think. And be sure to stop by the blog and check out all the other wonderful stuff people are making this week!! Thank you for reading!!

Niles loved very few things in the world. He was kind of partial to the taste of lemon and the scent of campfire. He enjoyed things like hot baths and comfortable mattresses. Money made him happy and the feeling of hitting his intended target with an arrow did not disappoint him. But he couldn’t say he _loved_ these things. The only things he loved were his life and the stars.

Naturally a job listing that said ‘Stolen Stardust, Reward: 50 gold’ caught his attention. With very little hesitation, he swiped the brown notice and stormed over to the bartender. “What's stardust?” He grunted at the man cleaning a glass. 

Every thief and mercenary freelancer knew that bars were the best place to pick up jobs. Sure, other placed posted jobs, but only bartenders knew all the details. Bartenders, Niles thought, knew almost everything about the world. They were dangerous people if you crossed them and powerful allies if you tipped well. 

The bartender leaned over the counter and peered at the ad, then up at Niles. “That’s the job in Nottingham. Apparently something very valuable has been taken from the people there. It’s a citizen request of a pretty poor country, so the pay is incredibly low. It’s probably not worth your time.” He leaned away from the notice and returned his attention to the glass in his hand. “You’re probably better off taking one of the political sponsorship jobs. They’re usually low risk but high pay. Like that one from Ylisse. Apparently a prince has gone missing and they’re willing to pay a pretty penny for his safe return.” 

Niles didn’t respond to that hook. If he was interested in some runaway heir, he would have asked about it. “Do you know what stardust is referring to?” 

“Never heard of it,” the bartender admitted with a sigh. “If you’re really set on that job, you’ll have to go to Nottingham to figure it out.” 

Bartenders knew everything. The fact that he had just admitted to not knowing would make some people suspicious. Niles found it intriguing. He swiped up the notice and asked which direction Nottingham was. 

It was a three days travel south. Niles didn’t mind. He was slightly nomadic as it was anyway. Might as well go south for money if he was going to go anywhere. He traveled mostly by stowing away on wagons and carts. As a thief, it was his speciality. But the closer he got he found that fewer and fewer merchants traveled close to Nottingham. Apparently, not many craftsmen were interested in selling to the people that lived there. When Niles finally made it into the town border, he found out why. 

The bartender had said that Nottingham was a poor place, but Niles was starting to think he had been understating it. It was destitute. The woods leading up to the edge of town had lost all of their green and will to live. Black, dying trees loomed over the unpaved road that lead into the city square. Mud was the preferred ground surrounding everything and the clouds looked gloomier here than they had been an hour before arriving. The buildings were in shambles and several barely had roofs. Everything looked broken and withered. Still, people milled about, trading what they had for what they needed. Halves of stale bread, underfed chickens, rusty tools. It was pitiful. 

Something had happened to make it like this. 

Niles walked into town with his hood drawn up. Nottingham was a skeleton of a city and he felt exposed. But the impoverished citizens didn’t seem to notice him. Or at least they didn't care. He looked for a pub, or somewhere similar he could get information, but found none. It made sense. For a place so poor, spirits were probably a luxury. Niles found a soup kitchen instead. 

There were several people inside, all lined up with cracked and dirty bowls and cups in their hands. Several of them were shaking and many looked like this would be the first meal they had eaten in days. An old, hunched over monk was at the front of the line, scrapping at a barrel of slop to feed them to the best of his abilities. 

When Niles walked in, all eyes turned on him. It was the first time he had been noticed since arriving in town and he bristled at the looks flung his way. 

“Traveler,” came the tremulous voice of the monk. “What brings you here?” 

Niles glanced through the crowd and landed on the generous holy man. “I came about this.” He pulled out the ad. “I’m a thief. If you tell me what stardust is, I’m sure I can get it back for you.” 

A murmur spread through the crowd now and the monk handed his ladle to a child that stood next in line. He asked her to help spoon food for the rest and then turned to Niles. “Please follow me.” 

The monk led Niles into a back room that was almost completely empty save a table with a pile of books and a dark candle. He lit it, then turned to Niles with it in his hand. The effect of the light bouncing below his chin was somewhat eerie. “You are very brave for volunteering to take this mission.” 

Niles shrugged. “Can't say I agree yet. I mean, it doesn't pay well and that's usually an indicator that a task is small. To be honest I came to get information first. Then I will decide if I can take the job.” 

This seemed to bother the old monk. His gaze darted around nervously. “The pay is small because it is all we can afford. But I assure you, the mission is grave. We have had several people volunteer already and they have all just… Vanished. If you wish to back out knowing this, I will hold nothing against you, stranger.” 

Of course, Niles had half been expecting this. He held up a hand to assuage the old man. “Just tell me some things. What is stardust? And who took it?” 

“That second question is easy,” the monk began. “It was stolen by our lord. He’s hoarding the stardust for himself. Our crops have withered and our wells have dried up and our people are starving without it while he lives in a lap of luxury. He doesn’t need us, he just needed our stardust. So he took it and left us for dead. His palace is just southeast from here.” 

It wasn’t uncommon for rulers to get greedy at the expense of their people. Niles had seen it time and time again. It made him sick. So few lived in wealthy while the many struggled to make ends meet. As a child of the streets he had seen the worst of it. He had never really considered himself a thief of the people, but in times of extreme cruelty, the idea of knocking a pious nobleman down a notch made his mouth water. 

“Great. Now what exactly am I looking for?” 

The monk turned to his books and picked one up. He flipped through the stale pages until he found one with pictures and leaned in so Niles could see. There was a beautifully crafted image of the night sky with large glittering stars and a bustling, healthy looking city below. “Our town was born under a lucky star. For generations, it shed fortune and fertility on our ancestors and we were once a very wealthy country. The star burned out about a century ago, but it didn’t leave us completely alone. When it burst, it rained down from the sky into our water so that it could more directly benefit us. We built wells to help control how and when luck would grace us. But our lord diverted the flow of our wells and stole all of the magic water for himself. The stardust is in that water. If you can get it flowing back into Nottingham, we will be saved.” 

So it wasn’t a physical object Niles was looking for, but to destroy all of the dams and man-made rivers the lord had built in order to hoard this magical water all to himself. It was different, sure, but Niles was not deterred. 

“I’ll see what I can do,” Niles said plainly. 

“Thank you, sir, for trying,” the monk returned, and his eyes looked glossy with gratitude. “Please, take the horse that is tied out front. You will get there faster if you ride.” 

“A horse is very valuable. I’m not sure you can afford to lose one.” 

“If you can get the stardust back into Nottingham, then we will be able to afford much more than one malnourished horse.” 

A couple dozen people saw Niles off at the gate. He didn’t wave at them, didn’t even smile as he rode away from the crumbling town, but his heart swelled with the wave of hope that they paved for him as he headed southeast. 

\--- 

The palace was only a few hours away from Nottingham, but there was such a drastic difference in the weather and the environment. Everything was green and blooming. The sky was clear and the sun was shining down. The sound of woodland critters making homes and running about filled the air. It was gorgeous and yet Niles was practically suffocating on the greed and gluttony all around him. 

He dismounted his horse when he could see the palace on the horizon but still had not quite reached the front gate. He pointed the poor creature in the direction of home and prayed that it would get there alone. He was much better off on his own from this point forward. 

The front of the palace was, of course, guarded. So Niles hid himself in a tree until nightfall and then snuck around the tired night shift guards until he found a way inside from below. He found a sewer entrance and dipped himself in. It smelled horrible. In fact, he could almost pinpoint exactly what kind of sewage he was wading through and tried not to think too much about it. 

The sewer was unguarded and connected to the dungeons of the palace. Niles resurfaced, with a subtly large gulp for air, surrounded by cobblestone walls and cold torches. There were no people so he decided to freely explore. Light on his feet, he moved down the hallway, looking for stairs up into the main part of the palace. At one point he did find a ring of keys and took it. They were mostly for appearances. Niles could get into doors almost quicker on his own. But if he ran into someone, he could perhaps pretend that he was meant to be here if he had the keys around his belt. 

There was a deeply disturbing lack of life in the dungeons. Niles was just growing a costumed to it when he turned into a little entry way and was met with a pair of large green eyes, glistening with life and curiosity. If he were any other thief, Niles might have panicked. But he was used to unexpected occurrences, And anyway, this was just a prisoner behind some bars. He was completely useless, so without so much as a word of acknowledgement he turned to leave. Then a voice rang out and he stopped. 

“Excuse me, guard, I have a favor to ask.” 

Niles turned to face the prisoner and scowled. He had been mistaken for a guard. It wasn’t entirely a bad thing. It meant that perhaps the guards didn't have uniforms. Or the keys were doing their job to camouflage him. 

“You’re a prisoner,” Niles shot back venomously. “I owe you no favors.” He had no time for this. 

“Please, sir, it will only take a moment.” 

Niles sighed and cursed the generous mood he was in. The poor guy behind the bars looked emaciated. It was hard to tell how long he had been down here, probably without a meal given the cold torches and complete lack of security. Maybe he had been left to starvation. His cheeks looked hollow, there were bags under his large eyes, his blonde hair was matted and dirty, the clothes he wore were hanging off of his skinny frame. As Niles got closer he fiddled with the keys he had attached to his belt, wondering if he should just set this guy free or if it would sabotage his mission. 

Whether it was fortunate or not, Niles would not have to be the one to make that decision. As soon as he was within arms reach, the man grabbed him through the bars and, with strength he didn’t appear to possess, slammed him forward and snatched the keys from his belt. 

Niles was stunned for a moment. His head collided with iron and his vision went white. But he wasn't some common guard. The man fumbled with the keys in the latch of the cage and the second he was free, Niles was lucid. He lunged at the man and forced him back into the cell. They grappled on the ground for a while until finally Niles slammed the prisoner’s head into the ground and hissed,”Knock it off, someone will hear you.” 

The prisoner’s green eyes looked dazed as he blinked up at Niles. “Wait.. What?” 

Then there were footsteps coming down the hall and a torch light accompanying it. Niles hopped off the prisoner, closed the door as quickly and quietly as possible, locked it again, and with the keys in hand ducked behind a pile of straw that the prisoner had been sharing his space with. 

The poor blonde prisoner looked confused as the whole thing transpired, but it was over in a minute and then a guard was turning the corner looking incredibly suspicious. “What's going on in here?” 

Niles was hoping against evidence that the guy holding his secret wasn't an idiot. That he could put the pieces together and figure out that Niles wasn't a guard and therefore was not his enemy despite the struggle between them. It was too early in his mission; he didn't want to have to kill anybody if he was discovered. Everything hung on what the prisoner would do next. His mouth opened, and Niles braced himself. 

“Was I being too boisterous for you?” he asked in a booming voice, placing one hand to his forehead and striking a pose. “I was simply practicing dazzling pleas for my trial! I would like to be remembered in this country's history books as a legendary defendant when I am set free!” 

One corner of the guard’s lip quirked up. “You think you're going to get free? No, forget that. You think you're going to have a _trial_?” 

The prisoner loosened his stance and blinked a little. “Of course. Is this not a fair and just country?” 

This time the guard chuckled. “You tried to steal stardust from the master of this palace! That's an automatic life sentence. If you're going crazy, I would embrace it. It’ll make your slow death much less painful.” Then the guard, assuaged by the prisoner’s crazy proclamations, turned and left on the heels of laughter. 

When the light were gone, Niles emerged from the pile of straw. “You were on the stardust mission?” 

As if the prisoner had almost forgotten he was there, he turned with a start at Niles’ voice. “Yes. The people sent me. Their whole village is dried up and withering at the hands of their evil lord. I came to help.” 

Niles grunted and headed toward the cell door again. He had decided that he couldn’t just leave this man behind, but he couldn’t quite take him along either. If he stayed in the cell, he might reveal Niles’ whereabouts. But he had been bumbling enough to get caught once. It would add another day to the job, but Niles was going to have to extract this prisoner before he could continue to search for stardust. 

Of course, the prisoner seemed to be having a completely different train of thought. He beamed at Niles as the door to the cell swung open. “You are too, aren’t you? That’s why you hid from the guard and why you asked about it. Fortune smiles upon me this day! I have been in this cell for a week, wondering if I would ever be able to complete my hero’s quest, but now the gods have sent me a partner! Together we can restore Nottingham to its glory!” 

Niles couldn't help but chuckle at the suggestion. He imagined he felt exactly how the guard had earlier. “I work alone,” he informed the happy prisoner. “I’m setting you free and I’ll even see to it that you make it out of this dungeon alive, but then you have to return to Nottingham and keep your head low, got it? Don’t worry about the stardust anymore.” 

He started to walk out of the cell but the man jumped in front of him. He was fast. And strong, if Niles recalled earlier. Two qualities he shouldn't possess under the apparently physical strain his body was suffering. “Please, listen to reason. This mission is too much for one person to do alone. Trust me, I tried. And I am no ordinary thief. I have magic.” 

Niles raised an eyebrow. “You do?” 

He nodded and then, as if making to prove it, snapped his middle finger and thumb together. A little spark of electricity shot into the air and fizzled out a second later. It wasn't a lot of magic, but it was something. “I’m a little rusty right now, but I’m sure if I get out and my aching blood starts flowing again the powers of lightning will surge through me, and I will be entirely useful to your mission.” 

Niles sighed. The magic thing was weird, but it didn't change his mind. This man was loud and therefore dangerous. Still, he could pretend to strike an alliance while secretly searching for a way to smuggle the prisoner out. “What’s your name?” 

The man bristled with excitement. “Odin Dark! Hero of the lands! Scion of legends!” He bowed dramatically. “At your service.” 

It took every ounce of his willpower not to groan at the gesture. “Fantastic. Stay close and don't make a noise or I will abandon you for this screwed up justice system to deal with again.” 

The man, Odin, saluted and beamed. “You can count on me! Er, sorry I don't believe I caught your name?” 

Niles ignored him, hoping the man would take a hint, as he led their stealthy retreat toward the exit of the dungeon. 

\--- 

Niles retraced his steps to the sewers he had entered the palace through. He was in the habit of never using the same entrance or exit twice, so he didn’t go the same direction, but he was pretty confident that he could find a new exit to the palace quickly. Odin crept along beside him, brimming with energy, still under the misconception that Niles was letting him along for the adventure instead of trying to smuggle him out. But he kept quiet, so Niles let him enjoy it while it lasted. 

They crawled along in the tunnels for a little bit until Odin suddenly stopped and grabbed Niles’ shirt. He turned to suggest that they keep moving but found him holding a finger to his lips and glancing at the ceiling above them suspiciously. “Do you hear that?” 

Niles looked up and strained his ears. There it was. Running water? Just a trickle but… He glanced around. They were in the sewers. If there was running water, they would be right in the middle of it, but the sludge was stagnant around them. So where was that coming from? 

“There’s a second drainage system,” Odin deduced, and it was enough for him. He sped ahead of Niles, overcome with excitement at his find. 

Niles hissed and chased after him. A trickle of light was spilling out from the ceiling ahead. A grate. Niles figured just by how long they had been exploring that it would lead into a room of the main palace. And Odin was already pushing it aside and squeezing his head through it despite Niles’ hushed protests. Niles braced himself for shouts of an intruder and attacks. But nothing happened and Odin quietly lifted himself up through the grate. A moment later his head poked down again and beamed at Niles. “You have to see this!” 

Against all his better judgement, Niles crawled up through the grate and joined Odin in the palace. The difference between what they had emerged from to what they now stepped into was vast. The sewers had been musty and dirty and cramped. This room was bright and clean and large. Expensive drapes hung from the ornate walls and ceiling. The floor was so clear, Niles could almost see his reflection in it. It looked like a room that would be good for hosting parties or meetings. But it was completely empty, save one large fountain in the center of the room. 

It was incredibly striking, perhaps one of the most beautiful sculptures Niles had ever seen. The carvings in the stone were intricate and elaborate. Every inch of it was gilded with polished gold. But even three tiers high and much taller than the men standing before it, it seemed lonely in this big room all by itself. 

The most remarkable thing about the fountain, however, was the water. It was trickling gently out of the spout at the top and down the tiers into the basin at the bottom. It would have been the clearest water in the world if not for the little yellow lights dancing around inside. It was like looking into a pool in the middle of the day and seeing the reflection of stars in the sky. 

Both of the men were, admittedly, a little transfixed by their find. Aside from the fact that there was no doubt this was the stardust water they were looking for. 

Odin’s hand, slowly reaching for the water, jostled Niles out of his daze. He would consider himself impressed, but Odin seemed down right transfixed. His eyes were ride and glimmering with something Niles had never seen before. Something ethereal. His fingertips fanned out across the water's edge and then, to Niles surprise, a little bolt of electricity danced across the surface away from him. His hair, which was matted with dirt and sweat, started to rise with charged up static. His entire body was subtly crackling. But Niles noticed. There was more to this man than met the eye. And the more he connected with the magical water, the more curiosity bloomed in Niles. 

It took the sound of footsteps and hushed voices echoing down the hall to snap them out of it. Niles grabbed Odin by the collar rather unceremoniously (ignoring a little prick of static shock) and threw him back into the sewer. He fixed the grate into the floor above them just before the footsteps finally entered the room, and then both men fell intensely quiet, straining their ears to hear what was happening around the fountain. 

“-another message from Nottingham, sir,” said a voice with as much pomp and circumstance in it as the world had to offer. 

The man addressed as sir, who Niles could only infer was the lord of the land, sighed. “They are a wilting thorn in my side. Sheriff, tell me, has that city done anything to better my wealth in the past few months?” 

“Of course not sir, we’ve taxed everything they have to give. They have nothing left.” The sheriff didn't sound the least bit ashamed of this fact. 

“Then we might as well burn it to the ground.” 

Niles felt Odin beside him lurch in panic. He quickly clasped a hand on the man's shoulders and was met with a horrified look. His eyes were wide and his complexion was pale. He shook his head to urgently warn against giving away their hiding place. 

“Is that an official decree, sir?” The sheriff sounded hungry. 

“All of their worth came from the stardust, which I now own completely. They are officially useless to me. Hereby make it known that if Nottingham cannot pay their dues next, they will lose their land and homes.” 

“Their next payment is due tomorrow, sir.” 

“Then send soldiers with the tax collectors.” 

“Of course, sir.” 

There was a soft, musical twinkling as the water in the middle of the room was disturbed and whispers were passed between the lord and the wishing water. Then, after a few long minutes, they were gone, walking down separate hallways as if this was a ritual performed every night. 

As soon as the coast was clear, Odin grabbed Niles by the shoulders. His hands were shaking. “We have to reverse the flow of the stardust water tonight. If the people have magic, they can fight back. We’re running out of time.” 

“I thought I would have a couple of days to scout out the palace,” Niles cursed under his breath. He didn’t mention is secret plan to set Odin free before actually pursuing the stardust heist. He looked up at Odin, into his green eyes that were glistening with righteous fury and frayed nerves. He was right. They were running out of time. He would have to improvise. “You have magic, correct?” 

Odin blinked out of his rage and struck a pose triumphantly. “Yes. It's weak right now, but elemental powers course through my blood.” 

“Can you use that magic to track other magic?” 

Odin blinked. And then grinned. 

\--- 

Odin was bristling. The deeper they wandered into the sewer, following the sound of trickling water in the walls around them, the more his withered body seemed to float on some electric energy from within. His hair was practically standing on end now. Color was returning to his face, his muscles were twitching, and his eyes were still glimmering with recharged purpose. Niles kept an eye on all of it. It was fascinating on several levels and he had to remind himself to keep his primary thoughts on the task at hand instead of figuring out exactly what, or who, this random prisoner was. 

He stopped when Odin did, hovered under a new grate in the ceiling with sparks of lightning flicking between his fingertips. He looked so serious and for a moment Niles thought he would explode with power to announce their arrival. Instead, the electricity flared and then fizzled out and he twisted around to give Niles a wide, excited grin. “We found it.” 

The palace was huge and it probably would have taken Niles a couple of days to find this particular drain with this particular grate. Odin had found it in two hours. Of course, he wouldn’t admit that outloud. He simply pushed aside the metal and hauled himself into the room to see what they had found. 

The first sensation was the sound of flowing water and a little tinkle of something else, something that sounded delicate. It echoed and bounced off the walls, which were unfinished and built like a cave. 

The room was a large oval built on layers. Niles pulled himself up on a platform that had an iron door leading down to it. Niles could feel a breeze, as if some part of this room opened into the wild, but he couldn’t see it. On the opposite side from him was a large, imposing dam, held up by stone pillars that cast shadows against the walls. The source of light for these shadows, and for the room in general, was the water between Niles and the dam. 

A huge pool of stardust was right in front of him. The glimmer of the bright lights dancing in the water reflected against the walls, making the cave ceiling appear like the night sky itself. It shimmered and danced across Niles’ body, and sung a soft musical twinkle as it did. Since it was so bright, Niles could see all the way to the bottom of the pool, where pipes attached to the dam filtered water in but allowed none out. It was a fierce and powerful structure. 

Niles was inspecting the pillars of the dam, wondering how they could bring this whole thing down when Odin popped up into the room. With an excited whoop, he promptly stripped off his dirty shirt and rushed to the water's edge. Niles cringed, if only because the sound echoed all around him and they were, technically, still in a covert stealth operation. But sight of Odin’s bare chest as he splashed around in a shallow portion of the pool, covering himself in glittering magic and clean water, wasn’t particularly sore on his eyes. 

The stardust that he touched was sticking to his pale skin, making him glitter and sparkle like he was a map of the solar system. He was smiling and laughing and shimmering with magic power and energy. Where he had once been a shriveled up and starving prisoner, he was now bursting with life and he looked _so_ happy. It was… Intriguing. In a way. 

Without warning the iron door flung open and several people started to filter into the room. Niles quickly and instinctively hid himself in the shadows. He ducked behind a pillar and found a ledge in the wall near it where he could escape the reflection of the pool. He did it fast enough, and, thanks to Odin’s distraction of dancing around in the middle of the precious stardust water, he was able to do it without notice. Immediately, he grabbed his bow and notched an arrow. 

About fifteen soldiers spread out around the pool, surrounding Odin with their swords drawn. They stood at attention and waited for their lord who came in last and perched at the very edge of the water. The charges of electricity that had been bouncing all over Odin’s skin had died away and he half turned to face his enemy, his expression dark. 

The lord looked every bit like the man Niles had imagined when he had first heard that slimy voice in the fountain room. He was stout but bold with his shoulders thrown back and his head held high so that he may try to look down on people despite his size. Every inch of hair on his head and face was slicked with oils to give him a fittingly greasy aesthetic. His skin was coated in powders and paints and his clothes were lined with furs and gold even though they seemed to just be a robe and some loose pants. In his meaty hands he held a sword that was decorated and clean and glittering off the reflection of the stardust. 

He looked fake. Like a caricature that couldn’t be taken seriously. But Niles drew his arrow taut and hoped that Odin didn’t let his guard down either. There were plenty of capable men in the world that didn’t appear to be such. And at the very least, he was still surrounded by well trained palace guards. 

“Any last words?” the lord growled, pointing his sword at Odin without any other pretense. 

If the lord had known Odin, he would have known it to be a foolish question. “As a matter of fact, I have many.” 

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the soldiers attacked. At the same time, however, Odin had harnessed a load of electrical magic down his right arm and before they could reach him he discharged it. Several of the men fell instantly. Niles quickly loosed an arrow into one that had escaped and then aimed for another that was quick behind. From his perch above, he had a better view of the field than Odin, who was in the middle of it and surrounded by his own blinding magic. The stardust rippled, agitated as Odin moved through the water with incredible agility. It supplied him with power and he roared triumphantly as enemy after enemy fell. 

After a solid few seconds of chaos and confusion, a sword flew out of a fallen soldier’s hands and plunked into the water beside Odin’s feet. He stopped his lightning show to scoop it up and then advanced through the attacking soldiers with even more ferocity. With his magic flowing readily out of him now, a weapon to guard his immediate surroundings, and the addition of Niles’ cover fire, it was easy for him to break through the crowd 

By the time Odin reached the lord, there was no one else fighting in the room. And it became clear very quickly that Odin was as handy with the sword in his hand as he was with magic. Or perhaps the lord was just less trained than he should have been. Either way, Odin knocked his weapon away and put the tip of his own to the lord’s chest. In turn, the lord lifted his hands in a show of surrender. 

Odin flicked his wrist and knocked an ornate badge off of the lord’s robe with his sword and then returned it to hover over his heart. “I am hereby stripping you of your power. You are you no lord and I will ensure that you never hold office over human lives in this manner ever again. But I will not kill you. I will spare your life in the hope that you will spend it growing morally from this experience.” 

The lord bowed his head in shame. “Of course,” he muttered. “Thank you for your mercy.” 

Satisfied with the humble display, Odin lowered his sword and turned back to the dam holding in all of the stardust imbued water. He lifted his other arm and the crackle of electricity formed again. After just a second of gathering static and power, it shot out in haphazard directions toward the dam. The room shook, the water bounced around his feet, and the stone of the dam began to crumble. 

Niles watched in mild awe at the gravity of this power for just a few seconds. His attention was stolen when, soon after Odin turning his back on his enemy, the lord picked up his sword again and began to rise to his feet. 

Odin was powerful, but oblivious. So it was Niles who dropped down from his hiding place and swiftly crossed the room to the lord. He put the point of the arrow he was currently holding into the man’s back. The sword fell to the floor with a clang, which caught Odin’s attention and he half turned to face them. 

“Get the water to the people of Nottingham,” Niles ordered. “Make sure they’re prepared for whatever might come in the morning.” 

Odin nodded, but then hesitated. He flicked his gaze toward the lord in Niles’ arms then back to his partner. “Don’t kill him. He may be rotten, but even a fallen fruit can nourish a sapling.” 

Niles tried not to roll his eyes. Instead, he nodded in agreement and tightened his grip on the lord as Odin turned back to the dam. He summoned his power again, this time at an even higher degree than before. The room was flooded in the bright lights and Niles struggled to not close his one good eye. The already fragile rock exploded outward and then the roar of water crashed out of the pipes and beyond the now broken barrier keeping it from the rest of the world. Odin ran alongside the canal, crackling with energy and prepared to destroy anymore barriers before he and the magic found its natural river outside. Niles watched him go until the only lights from Odin’s power that he could see were the left over spots in his vision from being blinded. 

“Your friend has a lot of power,” the lord said when they were alone. 

“It appears so,” Niles agreed. 

“But you don’t. The stardust isn’t reacting to you.” 

Niles looked down at the ledge they were standing on. Previously it had been the shallow portion of the pool, but now that the water in the pipes had somewhere to go, a fast flowing river was rushing away from them into the darkness and the reservoir had lowered in elevation dramatically. All that remained was a dampness where water had once been. But among that dampness was, indeed, a few grains of stardust stuck to the stone around their feet. Sure enough, it reacted differently to Niles than it did for Odin. Which was to say, it didn’t react at all. It didn’t glimmer or create a soft twinkling noise. It simply sat and glowed and waited. 

“I’m not going to let you get away with what you have done,” the lord spat, suddenly piping unreserved venom into his voice. “I’m going to execute you and that wizard and then go down to that useless village and burn it to the ground. Then the stardust will be all mine again. And this time I will keep it in a place where no one but me can find it. Nothing you do can stop me.” 

Niles flipped the evil man around and, without a second's hesitation or another word, drove his arrow deep into his left eyeball and brain. The lord’s last breath was spent choking in shock and pain. Stone faced, Niles reclaimed his arrow and kicked him backwards into the reservoir. There was a long fall, then a splash. Without thousands of little stardust particles to illuminate it, Niles could only see a faint outline of his body floating there. He watched it for a moment, contempt all over his face, then turned and left. 

\--- 

The night beyond the palace was peaceful. Of course, it sounded more like a beach than a forest with the crashing of rushing water filling the atmosphere. It was dark, but the sky was clear and the moon and the stars were bright and plentiful, tinting the sky in dark purples rathern than black. And the gleam from the stardust that filled every creek and river and pond made the whole earth glow. 

Niles moved swiftly through the forest along the river. Eventually the roar from the initial break gave way to a minor trickle as the water eased back into its everyday path. Then the sound of cheering and laughing started to rise through the tranquility, and Niles knew he must be close to Nottingham. 

Niles loved stars, but he had never considered himself a stargazer. He was a thief, not an astronomer. Still, he found watching the stars to be relaxing and comforting, and he did it often. The night was his environment, his protector, his companion. And the stars were his hobby. He counted them, traced them with his eye, charted where they were in his mind. He didn’t know the technical names for all the constellations, but still Niles felt as though he had a pretty good grasp of the layout of the night sky. 

So when he drew closer to the town of Nottingham, Niles was pretty confident in his ascertain that many of the twinkling lights filling the air were not regular stars. They were shooting up and falling down and making little twinkling noises and painting the sky in more yellows and whites than he had ever seen before. They almost completely washed away the darkness that made the night time, well, night. 

In Nottingham, Stardust was bursting from the wells in the center of town. Showers of water and magic were misting down on the smiling, dancing citizens. What once was a dark, charred and dying town was now growing grass again. Trees were healing, visibly, all along the border and in the square. Withered animals were filling up with life and prancing or trotting to and fro gleefully. Color returned to the faces of people that had once been gray with disease and fatigue. The stardust itself seemed to actually dance with them, as equally happy to be home as they were to have it back. 

Niles sat at the edge of the forest on a little hilltop that overlooked it all. He chose not to run down and participate in the festivities. He wasn’t even planning on collecting his payment. This _one time_ he could afford a freebie. 

He didn’t react or flinch at the sound of grass being trodden on behind him. He knew who it was just by the sound of his gait, let alone the soft twinkling of lingering magic and the glow that appeared in his peripheral vision. Niles kept his eye on the culmination of stars and stardust littering the sky as the ground beside him softened under the weight of another person. 

“He didn’t make it,” Niles grunted. “I tried to restrain him but in the end his greed was too much, and he fell in the water and drowned.” 

The lie rolled off of him easily and seemed to soften the sudden stiffness in Odin’s shoulders. Niles had killed many men in his life and he had never planned on letting that evil lord walk away with a single breath left in him. He had lied from the moment he promised Odin he wouldn’t hurt him, and this simply an extension of that lie. But if it helped this poor magical prisoner have a better night, then so be it. Niles was in a generous mood, after all. 

“That’s unfortunate,” Odin sighed. He looked out over the people below, dancing and celebrating. “I was hoping he would make a better life for himself and his land. Regardless, these people will thrive from now on.” He reached out a hand and clasped Niles’ shoulder. Niles didn’t flinch or reciprocate. He could feel the dampness of Odin’s skin through his shirt. “We’ve done a good thing this night, friend.” 

“I’m not your friend,” Niles said bluntly. 

“Well it’s not like you gave me a name by which to call you.” 

Niles smirked. “Oh good. I was afraid I might have let it slip at some point.” 

There was another short, exasperated sigh. “It’s okay. I’ll give you a really cool name that they can call you when they retell the magnificent stories of my life.” 

Niles didn’t press the issue. It would only lead to more inquiries about his identity. And besides, he didn’t really doubt that Odin was due for greatness. There was some brand of impossible magic brewing within him. But Niles didn’t press that issue either. Honestly, he’d had enough magic for one day. 

“Are you making a wish?” 

“No,” Niles said and finally he gave Odin a sideways look. “I don’t believe that that’s what stars do. Why? Are you?” 

Odin grinned sheepishly and kept his gaze on the undulating stardust hovering above the town below. “These are special. You know that as well as I do. They’re the stuff of shooting stars and wishing wells all in one. And I don’t waste opportunities to realize my dreams.” 

Niles didn’t take his gaze off of Odin after that. In fact, his focus seemed to intensify. His chest was still bare, inviting Niles’ mind down a path he was prone to taking while clothes were still involved let alone when someone was half naked in front of him. 

Most of him was dry now, the tips of his blonde hair were still a little dark with dampness and little trickles of water occasionally rolled down his defined chest or back. He had looked so shriveled and weak earlier, but now he looked powerful and, dare Niles think it, handsome. 

A stray finger reached up and trailed a line of glittering water down Odin’s bicep. Their eyes met and Niles was as shocked at himself as Odin looked, but he was also smooth and recovered in a wink of time. “I don’t know or frankly care what your deal is, but you might want to keep this magic to yourself from now on.” 

“O-Okay,” Odin squeaked as Niles reclaimed his hand. Then without a word he stood up and turned his back on the falling stardust, hoping to get away from his mysterious man before anymore unwanted feelings rose within him.


	2. Book of Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Don’t you find it ironic that you’re on a quest to learn a name and you don’t even know your own partner’s?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The day 2 prompt of Zerodin Week is Names. This is a continuation from the previous chapter, Book of Stardust. I hope you all like it! Be sure to leave a comment and stop by https://zerodinweek.tumblr.com/ to see what the prompts for the next few days are!!

“Please help us. You may be our very last hope.”

Niles tilted back in his chair with his arms crossed and his eye dark as he looked over the man sitting across from him. This was a surreal situation to be in and, frankly, he was still trying to process that it was real. He was in the corner of a bar in a city he had never visited before, and draped across the table from him begging for mercy was a king. Not a duke or a lord or any other sort of pawn for the patriarchy, but the actual king of Hanau. 

He didn’t look like a king. At least, not in this state. He wasn’t wearing a crown, obviously, or any of his ornate clothing. He was in a simple brown cloak that was drawn up over his face for anonymity. They were huddled in the back of the bar, protected from curious glances by shadows and smoke. 

Niles had never spoken to a king before. He hadn’t particularly wandered into this kingdom’s capital city seeking an audience with one either. He had simply made it known to the bartender that he was in search of a some high profile work and now here he was. 

“I hope you will pardon me if I speak informally, Your Majesty,” Niles tried slowly. He wasn’t afraid of this man. There was almost no way to be unless you stayed on your toes and continuously reminded yourself of his abject power. “I’ve never spoken to someone of your rank before.” 

“Please, don’t worry about it,” the king returned. His voice was shaky with fatigue and grief. “There are worse things for me to worry about. I do not come to you as a king, but as a worried father, desperate for help.” 

“Well, it’s hard to argue against this pay.” Niles glanced down at the ad in front of him again. The digit staring back at him had not just one, but several more eyes than he did. “So where did this, uh, _creature_ come from?” 

“I don’t know. It probably crawled directly out of hell. It just showed up at my doorstep a few weeks ago, right after I sent many of my soldiers to an neighbor kingdom. We’ve been experiencing an era of peace and they have recently lost a prince, I’m sure you’ve heard about it. I was trying to make an ally of them, but that no longer matters. As soon as my palace was unprotected, this evil imp appeared. Almost like it was waiting for me to let my guard drop. Now our era of peace has come to a close, and the danger threatening my people is sitting on my own throne.” 

“So what exactly is it that you need a thief for? It sounds like you need a warrior. Or an exorcist. Or better yet, why don’t you use your own magic to kill it? You’re a king, right? I thought all royalty were born was magic?” 

“This beast is not something that can be destroyed through regular means. One night I set the hut it was sleeping in on fire with my magic. It appeared to me the next morning, charred and alive and angry. It’s demanded the life of my first born child, which my wife is currently carrying. The baby will be born any day now and I will lose them to this _monster_. I can’t risk angering it anymore lest it involves the lives of more innocents.” 

“Are there any tested means of execution that seemed… Promising?” 

“None that we’ve been able to try. But allegedly there is one foolproof weakness. Ever since it appeared it’s been boasting about its own immortality. It claims there is only way to destroy it. Someone has to say its name to its face.” He finished weakly. “Of course, no one knows what to call it. Its name is a closely guarded secret. I need a thief to steal the name from him and bring it to me before my only child is born.” 

It was certainly one of the more interesting jobs Niles had ever gotten. He had stolen precious jewelry, people, even magical rivers, but he had never stolen someone's name before. Where did one even start with that? 

Several people had already perished in this job. Some attacked the creature head on (which was foolish) and some challenged it to games of wit in an effort learn its name (even more foolish). Niles knew those tactics were wrong. He wouldn’t approach the creature at all if he could help it. He would simply conduct some research. Niles was, after all, pretty good at finding things out about people. 

He bid the king farewell and watched as he slunk back through the streets of his city, looking completely ordinary in his heavy despair. Once he was out of sight, Niles turned away from the bar. Bartenders knew everything, that was a fact. But if they knew about this, then surely someone would have done something already. This king wasn’t hated or feared, and his first born child was bound to be a beloved figurehead to all. So instead, Niles turned toward the public archives. If he could find out where imps came from, that would be a good start. 

Archives were, in general, quiet places. Or at least Niles had thought so, until he opened the door to this one and was immediately blown backwards by a loud cry of alarm. “It’s the Silver Stargazer!” 

He flinched and it took all of his willpower to not walk right back out. He recognized the voice and while he couldn’t immediately place a face to it, he did not wish to have a run in with an acquaintance while he was on a job. But he made the mistake of looking up and catching on to two wide green eyes which froze him in his tracks. It was Odin, and he was beaming at Niles from across the room. 

Niles hesitated, but his original plan to leave was still very much in effect. Everyone in the building was staring at him after this outburst, trying to get a look at what sort of person could possess such a flamboyant title. Niles wondered too, so he lifted a finger, gestured for Odin follow him, and then turned and left. 

There was a loud apology, a crash, and then Niles found footsteps falling in line with his as he wandered the streets of Hanau looking for a new place to take his services. 

“It’s really you! I can’t believe it I thought our paths would never cross again! That our adventure had been a once in a lifetime meeting and you would be but a legend on my tongue and yet here you are again!” 

“I’m here on a job. I don’t want to prolong this interaction.” Niles said this in complete contradiction to his heart, which was thumping at the wild chance that he would run into this magical blonde again. It had been weeks since the job in Nottingham and Niles had allowed himself a couple nights of fantasy regarding the very face that was now smiling up at him. Of course, Niles didn’t usually regret his fantasies. He was much more the type to embrace and chase them. But this development in the situation when he was just about to set out for one of the most important jobs of his life had him wondering if there truly was a first time for everything. 

Then again, said the little voice in the back of his head. It had been a while since he had last invited someone to scratch that particular itch for him. 

“You’re here about the imp, aren’t you?” Odin surmised handily. 

“Of course we’re doing the same job again.” Niles smirked and gave Odin a look out of the corner of his good eye. “We can’t keep meeting like this.” 

Odin’s smile was, for lack of a better word, precious. Precious, perhaps, because the last time Niles had seen this man he was thin and weak. He’d had hollow cheeks and a ghastly complexion. Now his face was full and his jaw was strong and his skin was bright. His cheeks were rosy and dotted in freckles and his smile was bright and firm. That little voice was hollering. 

“Do you have any leads yet?” Odin asked. 

“I just got here,” Niles responded. “What about you?” 

Odin bounced a little in step. “I have one! There’s an item that might help reveal the imp’s name. I was just getting prepared to leave for it.” 

Niles rose an eyebrow. “An item?” 

“A mirror,” Odin clarified. “A magic mirror that is good at identifying people. There’s a whisper going through town that it may be the only hope to defeat this creature. It’s been lost for a century or so, but there's records of its last known sighting in the mountains. Some think a dragon might have taken it.” 

Niles resisted the urge to lick his lip. He could scourge for information in the gutters of this city all day, or he could go rob a dragon. “Got space for one more on your expedition team?” 

Odin let out an affirmative laugh. 

\--- 

The mountains were a couple days travel from Hanau, but there was no other choice. It was a lead no one had explored yet, and therefore it was very likely their last hope. So Odin and Niles left, hoping that the queen could hold out on having her baby until they returned. 

It was the loudest journey Niles had ever been on. Odin regaled him with stories for much of the first day. And, to his surprise, Niles listened to most of them. He normally would have pretended to, just to keep up a good work relationship, but he found some sort of charm in Odin’s stories. They were a lot like him. Grand and bright and full of goodness. 

Still, when night fell, Niles was more than grateful for the peace and quiet it afforded him. He laid out by a small pool of water against a tree and looked up through the canopy at the stars, as he often did. He thought about nothing. It was relaxing. Until a soft voice permeated his space. 

“The Silver Stargazer. It was a fitting name indeed.” Niles twisted his head and found Odin a couple of feet away from him, sitting cross legged and looking straight at Niles with an unafraid curiosity in his expression. 

“Is that what you’ve been calling me ever since we met?” 

Odin shrugged and looked at his hands for a moment. “Names are important. You did not provide me with one last time, so I assumed you to be a private man. That’s fine, but I had to call you something, so I came up with that.” Then his shimmering gaze met Niles’ again and he was smiling softly. “It’s pretty cool, though, right?” 

Niles snorted. “Don’t you find it ironic that you’re on a quest to learn a name and you don’t even know your own partner’s?” 

“Sort of,” Odin responded thoughtfully. “But it seems fitting. Your mysteriousness will only add to the grandeur of the legends they will tell.” 

Niles couldn’t help it. He sat up so that Odin could clearly see him shake his head even though he was grinning bemusedly. “My name is Niles, you dork.” 

“Niles…” Odin repeated in a low voice, trying the name out in his mouth. Then he smiled and sat up straighter. “I’m glad we ran into each other again, Niles.” 

Niles chuckled because, really, this man was disturbingly cute. His sincerity was blinding. It made Niles both warm and nervous. “Don't go around telling people, okay? As you said, names are important. Dangerous even. I like to stay as anonymous as possible.” 

“Then why did you tell me?” Odin asked. 

Niles was at a crossroads now. He could either give an obvious response, something along the lines of, ‘I didn’t want you to use that nickname anymore’. Or he could respond to that little voice that was clawing the edges of his willpower raw. There was no sense in missed opportunities, right? 

Niles tilted his body so that he was more properly facing Odin. He dipped his head and the surface of the pond reflected off his half lidded, coy gaze as his silver hair fell across his face. Then, in a low, rumbling voice he said, “So you can scream it later.” 

Odin’s face was beet red. He visibly gulped and it sent a shiver down Niles’ back. He found all the pleasure he had been seeking in that bashful response. After some awkward fidgeting, Odin leapt to his feet. “Well, then, I think I ought to take the first watch. Sleep well, Niles.” And he left. 

Niles returned his gaze to the stars, but couldn’t stop grinning to himself. 

\--- 

Twenty four hours later, the two men arrived at the dragon’s lair. They had spent many hours that day scouring the mountain, looking for an entrance before Niles had smelled it. When the dragon was sleeping during the day, he released a powerful odor that filtered out into the crisp mountain air. It had led them to a hole in the side of the mountain. It seemed to go straight down and Niles realized, in a flash, that the dragon’s cave was the _entire_ mountain. 

They left quickly and waited in a valley nearby for the dragon to leave. It was a touchy situation as neither of them had ever faced a dragon before. But Odin was excited. One might even say he was vibrating with electricity. 

Sure enough, in the twilight, the odor became stronger for just a moment and the ground rumbled. Then a faint, dark outline sped away into the night, completely unaware of the humans watching it. Niles and Odin moved quickly, scaling the mountain once more for that hole they had found. 

It dropped straight down into darkness. Niles fixed a rope at the entrance, not confident that they would be able to find another exit when the dragon was returning. This was by far the most dangerous thing he had ever done. There were too many unknown variables. But Odin’s proximity was filling him with unbridled adrenaline, as if the electric magic was bouncing off of his skin and into Niles’ veins as well. 

They shimmied down the rope into the cavern. The occasional sound of dripping water echoed around them, but otherwise it was dark and quiet. After a short distance it was permeated by a glimmer that started to seep up the walls of the tunnel. Niles stopped his descent momentarily, but his eyes glistened with excitement. They were right above the hoard. Not many humans had gotten this far and lived to tell about it. 

The dragon's cave did not gleam in the same way the stardust had. That magical water had twinkled and glittered in a fragile, delicate way. The reflection of the treasure bouncing off of the torches hung around the room was bold and solid. Gold painted the walls in a warm, gentle spray. The floor was literally made out of finely polished gems and metals. There was a haphazard mixture of large valuable items and currency. And Niles couldn't help his thieve’s eye as he marveled at it all. 

An elbow in his side from Odin made him frown. It wasn’t as if he was in some sort of wistful daydream that he needed to be roused from. Niles was always alert. But still, Odin was looking at him with an infuriatingly worried gaze. “We’re only here to get one item. Everything else we leave, or risk being slowed down by.” 

“I’m aware,” Niles grumbled. “You go that way, I’ll go this way.” 

So they spread out. The mound of treasure was huge and there was no guarantee they would pilfer through it before the dragon returned. It was a bridge they would have to cross when they came to it. 

They began to sort. Niles thought about the prices many of these items would return. It was money he was seeking after all, was it not? It was the reason he had accepted such a dangerous and profitable job. 

In the middle of this thought, he happened to look up from the pile of golden chalices he had created and found Odin across the room. He was digging through the treasure with his tongue held between his teeth in concentration. The gold warmed his face and softened his features. He was determined, and he was good all the way through. It almost melted Niles’ greed completely. 

Morality was exhausting and suddenly Niles was tired of searching. He longed only to run his fingers through that charged hair, taste the burn on his lips, feel the spark along that pale skin- 

“Aha!” Odin suddenly shouted, and Niles jumped. He was ashamed, for a moment, of his shock, but Odin was too distracted by the object in his hands to notice as well. And then Niles saw it too and embraced the triumph. 

Raised up above Odin’s head was a little handheld mirror. It was glimmering as if it had just been polished, like many of the objects in the pile. The handle was gold and an intricate frame held in place the mirror, which actually reflected nothing. 

“Are you sure that’s it?” Niles asked, despite his sympathetic elation. 

Odin beamed and pulled the mirror to his face. “There’s one way to find out,” he said. He took a deep breath and started in a loud, booming voice, “Mirror Mirror in my hand-” 

To Odin’s credit, the surface of the mirror did start to swirl and move, summoning a deep imbedded magic. But Odin was cut off and it stopped instantly. This proved to both men that they had found a mirror that was indeed magical and responded to the particular incantation of the mirror they were looking for. But they had more pressing matters to attend to than continue their experiment. Namely the thing that had interrupted Odin in the first place: the deep guttural roar of a dragon. 

The ground shook, banging all of the golden objects together violently. Niles pointed toward the rope and they both bolted. Niles mounted the rope first and before he could climb, Odin grabbed his cloak. He looked down, ready to scold him for delaying their retreat, but then saw Odin shoving the mirror into his pouch and the words stuttered on his tongue. 

“What are you doing, idiot?” 

“Take the mirror back to the king. I’ll hold it off.” 

“Hold what off? The dragon?!” 

Odin’s eyes, green and fierce, pierced right through Niles as he said, “Yes. Now escape while you can. Niles, the Silver Stargazer.” 

Niles growled in place of the many other things his body was inclined to do at that moment and started to scale the rope. Before he got just out of sight, however, he saw the dragon enter the room through a giant tunnel on the opposite side. Rock foundation jostled and fell from the ceiling around them. But Odin just removed his shirt and flexed his muscles. Little sparks of electricity danced over his skin as he did so. The dragon saw him instantly and roared. Odin roared back and lightning and smoke filled the cavern. 

Niles, against all his judgement and feelings, continued to climb, the mirror smacking against his hip with every thrust upwards. He made it into the cool night air and, without a look over his shoulder, sped down the side of the mountain. 

\--- 

The sun was breaking over the crest of the forest when Niles woke up. He knew it wouldn’t have been in Odin’s last wishes for him to delay returning to Hanau any more, but he couldn’t have gone on if he tried. Niles was nothing if not a man who knew his own limits. 

The memory of Odin’s lightning bouncing around that cave of metal and rock was scorched into his mind. No matter how hard his dreams tried to distract him, it lingered. He didn’t want it to. He didn’t want to smell the burning flesh or hear the thunderous roar of a massive dragon that one human, no matter how magical, had any hope of overcoming. 

He remembered Odin’s skin, taut over powerful muscles, glimmering in the dancing lights of his own electric energy, ready to meet its end so that a city he hadn’t loved could continue on without fear. 

Niles wiped the sleep from his eye. He didn’t need this emotion. It was useless. The mirror hung heavy from his pack. He had to get it to the king burdened with a nameless imp and claim his reward. At least, in hindsight, he wouldn’t have to split it. 

He hopped out of the tree and made toward the city but stopped when the smell of fire suddenly invaded his nostrils. He whipped around, fully intending to see a fire blazing on the horizon. His mind went wild. Images of a dragon enraged by the loss of his treasure torching the forest around him in search for one escaped human played out behind his eyeballs. 

A thin trail of smoke was indeed billowing up over the top of the trees. But that was all. Just one line of smoke. No fire, no dragon. Just the smell of burned flesh and the remnants of such. 

He emerged from the brush rather unceremoniously, locked eyes with Niles, and grinned. And Niles couldn’t help it. He rushed to Odin’s side, completely abandoning his valuable caution. 

Odin wasn’t actually hurt much at all. His skin was a little blackened here and there but he assured Niles it was an after effect of his own magic and it didn’t hurt as much as it would if it had, for example, been at the hands of the dragon. Niles didn’t press the issue. He dragged Odin to a creek and together they started to cool down the few burns that he had inevitably sustained anyway. 

Niles gratuitously ran his hands along the ripples of Odin’s muscles as he massaged the cool water into his shoulderblades. It was wonderful. It was everything he had imagined and everything he thought he had lost forever. Now the feeling sat in his gut, nestled among hope and a growing sense of arousal. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” he started in a pur, making sure that his breath ghosted over Odin’s exposed collar bone. He counted the goosebumps that dotted his shoulder as he went on. “Your magic. How do you have it? As far as I’ve been told, the only people who have magic are from royal blood, or they are wizards that have studied it their whole lives.” 

Odin looked over his shoulder with a sheepish grin and Niles was only slightly aware of how close their faces were. “What? Do I not strike you as a studious man?” 

Niles scoffed, but he was grinning as well. “You’re a fool if I’ve ever seen one.” 

Odin sputtered a little at this accusation, completely unprepared to defend himself. But he was even more unprepared when, without warning, Niles rather forcefully spun him around and knocked him to the ground. He was pinned to the soft grass by his shoulders, his arms flung up above his head. After his mind stopped spinning he looked up into Niles’ devious gaze and flushed all over his bare face and chest. 

“Wh-Wha… Niles?” 

“You’re a fool if you haven’t seen that I’ve been wanting to do this since that night in Nottingham.” 

Odin didn’t seem to be objecting much after that, so Niles finally leaned down and claimed the thing he really wanted. No missed opportunities. He wouldn’t regret this later. 

They kissed slowly, barely moving much more than their hands and mouths against each other. Little by little, Odin started to relax in Niles’ grip. He melted like butter and smelled of sharp spices. Niles wondered if Odin’s tongue was what lightning itself tasted like. It was a good comparison at the least. 

As they got closer and steadier, hands started to wander. Little jolts of electricity followed Niles’ fingertips as he ran them up and down Odin’s stomach and arms. It hurt a little. He liked it. It enticed him on, and the kissing got rougher, hotter, wetter. It was getting harder to breath. 

Odin pulled away with soft moan, his eyes glassed over and half lidded as he weakly said, “We should take the mirror back.” 

Niles hummed in agreement, but brought up a dark hand to brush that unruly blonde hair out of his damp forehead. “We’re ahead of schedule. And you just fought a dragon. I think a rest is in order.” 

Odin blinked a few times, but couldn’t get his eyes to open again when Niles leaned down and started nipping at his neck slowly. His breath came out in short gasps and his hips bucked upwards out of control as he hissed, “Y-Yeah, I guess I could go for a nap…” 

“Of course,” Niles purred. “A nap.” As he said it, his fingertips and his mouth both started tracing lines down Odin’s front. All the way from his exposed neck to the edge of his pants. He would make sure this boy, who was made of courage and lightning, had the best ‘nap’ of his life. 

\--- 

If it were any other day in the history of the country, it would have been a joyous one. The birth of a princess, the heir to an entire country. But as the king paraded through the palace with a little bundle wrapped up in his arms, all the people could think was _Why did she have to come early? Why couldn’t she wait just a little longer?_

The baby was healthy and beautiful. And no one had solved the riddle of the little imp waiting in the throne room for his due payment. He had assured the king that if any funny business was attempted to smuggle the baby out of the city, so many innocent people would pay the price instead. The queen stayed behind in the room she had delivered in, wrecked with grief. And the king’s only consolation was repetitively telling himself that the baby was still too young to understand what may happen to her. Perhaps her suffering would be minor even though his would be tremendous no matter what. 

The king, his newborn daughter, several members of the court that attended at the imp’s request, and a small smattering of guards that could do nothing but watch all crowded into the throne room. Sitting on the throne was the imp himself. He was a tiny little creature with patchy green skin, yellow teeth, fierce claws and beady black eyes. He lounged across the cushion, which was much too big for him, and proudly displayed a menacing grin. 

“I want everyone to pay attention to this,” the imp said in a voice that grated the ears. He hopped off the throne. “This is what will happen from now on when anyone tries to cross me.” 

The king trembled and held his daughter close to his chest, whispering goodbyes and prayers as the little imp marched toward him. This was the end. All hope was lost. 

Then the door to the throne room suddenly burst open. 

A few people cried out in shock, and everyone turned to see who had interrupted this solemn moment. It was two men almost no one recognized. One was shirtless, showing off skin that looked freshly singed. The other wore an eyepatch and carried a bow, and when the king recognized him his heart soared and he gripped his baby a little tighter. Both men were panting and the shirtless one was holding an ornate golden hand mirror proudly in front of him. 

“Can I help you?” the imp asked them incredulously. 

This seemed to do enough to calm Odin’s struggle for breath and he struck a pose, smirked, and said, “Fear not people of Hanau, we have come to rescue you from this nefarious demon! Your saviors have arrived!” Niles also took one last gulp of air and then rolled his eyes despite the grin that found him. 

This seemed to wipe the smile right off the little creature’s face. “I wouldn’t be so bold if I was you. Clearly you don’t know who I am.” 

“I don’t,” Odin responded, grinning triumphantly. “But isn’t that the point? As long as your identity is a secret, you are free to wreak havoc and tyranny on the people of this land. Well, today is the day of your reckoning, vile beast!” Odin thrust the hand that was holding the mirror in front of him once more. “Once and for all, we shall learn of your name!” 

The imp shrunk away from the mirror immediately. He recognized it. Niles could see it in his face. He notched an arrow and braced himself to protect Odin from any sudden attacks. 

“Oh great magic mirror of legendary fame, please divulge to us he in this room who has hidden a name!” 

Niles let loose an arrow into the imp’s foot just as he was about to leap. He couldn’t kill the wretched thing, but he could tie it to the ground while the mirror swirled to life. It spat and cursed and hissed and clawed at the people nearby. Then it started to tug at the arrow, but a pale nondescript human face had appeared in the mirror and in a echoed magical baritone spoke. 

_“For centuries this creature’s name has not been shown. It is Rumpelstiltskin by which he is known.”_

Before the rhyme was even over, as soon as the name was uttered, the little beast started to cry and scream. The people in the room picked up on the power of the word too and all began to chant it loudly, which made him scream harder. His skin started to steam, he grabbed at his melting flesh, and shortly, within a minute, he was gone. 

A raucous cheer filled the palace. Tears were streaming down the king’s face as he nuzzled his precious child. Niles reclaimed his arrow and turned to Odin, ready to congratulate him on a job well done, but found that the mirror was still active and that Odin was still holding it out. And he was trembling. And then the mirror started to speak again, and since its voice was so loud and powerful, the cheering died away so that everyone could hear its next words. 

_“There is one more here who hides his brand, for it is the lost Prince Owain of Ylisse who holds me in his hand.”_


	3. Book of the Exalted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "For a while, it had been a great place to smuggle away the most wanted man in the country. But everything came to an end eventually."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW I'M LATE I'M SO SORRY  
> Work and sleeping and stuff got in the way of me finishing this chapter putting me two days behind on Zerodin Week. I'll try to get another chapter up tonight and hopefully finish the whole thing by the end of the weekend. Thank you for patience!
> 
> Meanwhile, while I've been slacking, so many people have been making FANTSTIC THINGS for this ship week! Don't forget to check them all out @zerodinweek on tumblr!! I don't deserve this week, honestly, this is my OTP and I'm LIVING.
> 
> As always, please leave a comment to let me know what you think. This chapter is kind of... in between some stuff I wanna do I guess, so it may not be as exciting as the other ones and I'm sorry. And even though its late, it's a little rushed. v.v; Anyway I hope you enjoy it!

“I-If we stay here, they’ll-” Moan. “Find us…”

Niles pulled away from Odin’s exposed neck with an intentional pop. He licked the newly bruised area and hummed before rising to his full height. One of his legs was propped between Odin’s keeping him on his feet against the tree that was supporting his weight. It was the least he could do for making him so weak. 

He trailed a couple more kisses up Odin’s damp cheek before he spoke. “You’re probably right.” He pulled his body back just an inch and Odin slid down the trunk of the tree a half inch in response. “We should move on.” A little whimper followed after him as he walked away completely. The sound tingled up his spine in a gratifying manner. 

They had been intimate almost every night since they left the Hanau palace a couple of weeks ago. It had been fantastic up until a close run in with some law enforcement recently. Now Odin was too anxious about being caught by his pursuers. He wasn’t enjoying it enough anymore. It was time to switch it up, make him beg for Niles’ touch. 

So Niles stepped back and watched with mounting satisfaction as Odin struggled to find his footing. He slid to the forest floor on shaky legs and took several deep breaths. His body was covered in sweat, the thin white shirt he wore stuck to him like glue. He smirked up at Niles with a dark expression. “You are a monster.” 

Niles shrugged and started to prepare something incredibly witty and sensual to retort with, but some discordant shouting from far in the distance stole his chance. The fugitive men looked at each with horrified, knowing gazes and then started to run. 

They forest they were currently hiding in was was dense. The trees were huge and the ground was composed of patchy grass and large rocks. There was no sign of pavement or human life anywhere. Everything was covered in a thin layer of green moss and it was often cacophonous with animal noises. For a while, it had been a great place to smuggle away the most wanted man in the country. But everything came to an end eventually. 

The terrain was rough, but Niles pushed on easily, jumping over rocks and dodging around trees. He’d been doing this for a fortnight. He was getting pretty good at it. But after a moment he realized that Odin had lagged behind. He turned to see what was holding his partner up just in time to hear a cry of pain. 

Odin collapsed rather awkwardly. Involuntary tears pricked at the edges of his eyes. His legs were covered in mud and he was gripping one of them dramatically. “I have a cramp,” he whined and Niles knew it was from being pushed up against a tree trunk and perhaps some redirected blood flow followed immediately by sprinting. A pang of guilt struck him and he rushed to Odin’s side to help him up. 

The people tracking them were getting closer and Odin was struggling. Niles looked around for alternative option. Maybe a place to hide. His eyes fell on a tree that looked especially large and green, even considering their current surroundings. It was wrapped tightly in a large vine. 

“Can you climb?” 

“Maybe,” Odin guessed. 

Niles pulled him to his feet and drug him to the tree despite his hissing of pain. “Well give it a try. Your freedom depends on it.” 

He helped push Odin up first, hoping that the large branches of the trees around them and their thick foliage would give them some cover. Using the vine, they quickly and handily scaled it. The shouts of people grew too close just as Niles was pulling his feet up into some thick brush. They were nearly at the top of the canopy. There was almost no way they would be spotted now. 

He looked down through the trees but couldn’t see the ground. A good sign in some respects. But he could hear the people that had been tracking them and strained his ears to pick up on their conversation. 

“We’ve come too far,” a man’s voice said. “We’ll just have to pray that the prince didn’t run this way. If he did, he’s long gone. Turn back, we have to leave immediately.” There were some shouts of affirmation and then the noises were gone. 

Niles raised an eyebrow. Of all the conversations to eavesdrop on, that one had been exceptionally concerning. He looked up and saw Odin still climbing. He started to look back down below him, preparing for descent, but did a double take. Odin was _still climbing_. They were at the top of the forest and there was still tree climb. In fact, as Niles followed him he saw there was _much_ more to climb. The trunk spiraled all the way up into the clouds. 

Realization fell to the pit of his stomach accompanied by a lump of dread. This wasn’t a tree. 

“Odin!” he called up, and he had to shout. The wind got more aggressive the higher they climbed. “We have to go back down! This isn’t smart!” 

“On the contrary!” Odin paused only momentarily to shout back down at him. “This is genius! No one will think to look for me in the sky!” 

Niles had to follow Odin. There was no reasoning with him once he had his mind set on something. So he bit back a groan and together, they pressed on. 

He had climbed so many trees in his life, but this was not the same. Even though a vine twirled around the beanstalk, helping them with footing, it was a rough climb. It was just so much _longer_. Niles barely had any stamina to keep up. Eventually, though, he did break through to the clouds. It was wet and cold and he had lost sight of Odin in the mist. He just kept climbing, knowing that if the legends were true, he would eventually find solid ground again. 

One more for the historians, Niles thought, when his hand finally gripped something that felt like wood. He used the last of his strength to haul himself up. The stalk popped up out of a hole in the floor that he stood on now. Where this floor had come from, Niles had no answer. But it was here and he was grateful for the respite. 

The air was a little thin, which made catching his breath after such a strenuous climb even harder. As he took deep breaths, he tried to look around, but his eyes were also struggling to adjust after the quick switch from being in the middle of the bright sky to darkness of where he was now. All he could see was Odin, silhouetted in a little dome of light that was emanating from a wall. 

They acknowledged that they were both there and okay, but quietly, still unsure of where they were and if they were alone. After their breaths were quiet, they moved toward what they guessed as an exit. Odin peaked his head into the brightness first and then came back and gave Niles an elated expression. His hair was sticking up with excited static, as it often did. He put a finger to his mouth and then ushered him through. 

What Niles saw when his eyes adjusted to the new room he walked in took what little breath he had away. 

It was, for all intents and purposes, a normal enough room. There was a table, a bed, a dresser, a window and a door out. The only problem was, everything was gigantic. Niles was about a third the size of one leg on the table. He couldn't see what might be on it, or what the pattern on the bed sheets were, or what was out the window. He felt like a mouse. 

“So it’s true,” Odin said breathlessly as he moved around the table away from their little hole in the wall. It was a little hidden behind the furniture and it was reasonable to believe that anyone big enough to practically use this room wouldn’t notice it unless they were looking for it. “There are giants in the sky.” 

“If that’s all true, then the other things about those legends are probably also true,” Niles pointed out, his voice a low growl. “That they eat people. We can’t stay, we have to go back.” 

Odin turned to face him and a challenge was in his expression. “Niles, are you afraid?” 

“Not afraid,” Niles said, frowning. “But not stupid either. They can-” 

The door to the room opened and Niles grabbed him wordlessly to drag him back into their mouse hole. That didn’t stop Odin from peeking around the corner to see the giant. He was quiet, but Niles kept a firm grip on his shirt just in case. It was like taking care of an excitable dog, honestly. 

The ground vibrated under them as the giant walked. All they could see of him was a boot. He was massive, indeed. Perfectly proportioned to the size of the furniture in the room. And he was minding his own business. Niles tugged pointedly at the stunned Odin and gestured back to the beanstalk. If it hadn’t noticed them yet, then now was their time to escape. 

To Niles’ frustration, he was met with a hand smacking him away. Odin didn’t want to go. He was glued to the curve of the hole separating them from certain doom and he was looking up at the giant with borderline adoration. 

The giant moved closer to the wall they were hiding in, probably for no reason at all, but he suddenly stopped when he got there. And his foot shifted as if he was looking around. And then Niles heard it. The sniffing. 

“Odin, we have to go,” he hissed, grabbing the shirt again, this time with more urgency. 

“I’m not leaving.” 

The wall vibrated as the booming voice of the giant surrounded them. He spoke slow, and in the deepest baritone they had ever heard. “I haven’t smelled blood like that in over 200 years.” 

“If you don’t think he can break through this wall you are insane.” 

“That’s what they say about me,” Odin admitted. But he did move away from the wall, to Niles’ relief. He turned to the beanstalk, then looked at the hole again. Then he did something so infuriating, Niles was sure to be teasing him about it for weeks. He looked into the darkness that was the rest of the wall away from their hole, and he flashed Niles a grin. “The thing is, insanity has yet to lead me astray.” 

“Don’t you dare.” But it was too late, Odin was already scampering along the little passageway. Once again, Niles had no choice. He memorized the area really quick so they could find it again when it was actually time to leave, and then he ran after Odin. 

\--- 

“Weren’t the giants supposed to have like… A harp that sang on its own and stuff like that?” Niles asked one night in the darkness of the wall they had been living in. 

Odin was shirtless and curled around his chest. They were still a little sweaty from their twilight activities. Niles had one hand behind his head and the other was tracing the weird birthmark on Odin’s right forearm. Until that day in Hanau, it had been hidden by some sort of concealment magic. Odin didn’t need it anymore so he displayed his brand proudly and Niles loved to trace the way his freckles weaved in and out of the mark. 

“So far, everything in the legends has been true,” Odin murmured. Maybe he was getting sleepy. His nose was buried deep into the hair around Niles’ neck. 

“If we found it all, that would be the heist of the century.” 

This caused Odin to sit up suddenly and glare down at Niles. “You can’t rob them. If we upset them, we’ll have to leave.” 

“Odin, they’re already pretty upset,” Niles shot back. He also sat up. The washcloth they had stolen and were using as bedding fell aways from him. “He’s been stomping around for days, talking about ripping the house apart until he finds us.” 

“But his wife doesn't suspect a thing,” Odin argued. “She thinks he’s crazy. I think after some time has gone by, we can reason with her and strike a deal.” 

Niles stood up. They’d had this same argument a few times now. It had only been three days, and they’d already employed the services of make-up sex once. He liked Odin well enough, but when it was just the two of them for this long, he was going stir crazy. They needed to get back to the ground, but Odin wouldn’t listen to reason. He started to pace, holding back the furious thoughts racing through his mind. 

A gentle hand on his arm slowed him down and he shot a glare at Odin. Niles was trying to be good to him. Anger wasn’t going to get him any closer to proving his ultimate point. But if he wanted to fight, Niles was more than willing to oblige him. 

What he was met with wasn’t anger, though. It was softness. Odin looked rosy in their darkness. A little dipper of bruises was working it way up his left shoulder. A sign that Niles longed to leave this place. “You need some fresh air,” Odin said with a gentle smile. 

“Yes,” Niles agreed. He sighed and some of the tension left his shoulders. “Please. Can’t we just go down the beanstalk for a moment?” 

Odin shook his head and pulled one of Niles’ hands into his own. “That’s not necessary. Come on. I want to show you something I found earlier when you were stealing food crumbs.” 

They walked through the walls slowly. It was something they were horrifyingly accustomed to. They knew the layout of the gigantic house pretty well. They were good at staying out of the way of the giants, lest their blood is sniffed out again. They were even better at breathing up here. They were getting too comfortable, more reason for Niles to want to get out as soon as possible. 

He was surprised, though, when Odin took him into a room he wasn’t familiar with. It was a little washroom of some kind, and this late at night it was completely empty. The most important thing in the room was the window, which was small but cracked open to let out steam if it needed to. Niles’ heart lept embarrassingly at the sight of it. 

They squeezed their way through and then helped each other scale the side of the house until they were on the roof. And Niles felt all of the wind get knocked out of his lungs by what he saw. 

Niles knew the night sky very well. He could almost chart it in his mind. It was the only thing he didn’t get paid for that he cared about. But this was a whole different situation. 

Space stretched out before them in all directions. There was no horizon or clouds to get in their way, they were far above all of that. Everything was brighter and closer. Niles felt like he could almost reach out and touch the stars. He felt like all his dreams had come true, and he was finally swimming among them instead of watching them from afar. It was gorgeous. 

It took Niles a minute to figure out that Odin wasn’t looking at the stars, but was looking at him. His gaze was glued to Niles’ profile and when he turned to meet it, Odin blushed, but widened his smile. “I’m sorry. I should have known better than to keep my stargazer cooped up for so long.” 

Niles tried to ignore the possessive structure of that sentence and grunted. He looked back up at the sky and changed the topic. “So the clouds and the sky are separate. Interesting. You know what this means, right? The people who exalt giants as if they were gods are wrong. They’re still one step short of the heavens.” 

He meant for it to be a joke, but Odin didn’t laugh. He didn’t respond at all so Niles looked at him again and found contemplation. “Exalt…” he repeated quietly. 

“Sorry,” Niles murmured. He had never been to Ylisse, but he knew enough about their politics to know he might have struck a nerve. “Did I make a touchy word choice?” 

“No, I’m fine,” Odin said, but he gripped the forearm that contained his brand and sighed. 

A moment of silence sat in their laps and Niles was more than content to ignore it put all of his attention on the magnified night sky. But it was a heavy silence and his legs were going numb from carrying it. So after a few minutes he asked, “Do you miss your home?” 

“Of course,” Odin admitted quickly. “I miss the food, the holidays, the weather. My family and friends. I miss it all so much.” 

“Then why aren’t you trying to go back?” 

This wasn’t a question Niles had asked before. He had asked countless times why Odin didn’t want to return to the ground. He had hounded him about leaving the house in the clouds. But he had never brought up Ylisse. It was something he had been waiting for Odin to bring up on his own, thinking that if he was in that boat he would want the same curtesy done for him. 

Odin considered the question for a moment, clearly not wanting to rush through his answer. His motivations for running away were important to him, Niles could tell. And he was patient. The stars winked at him as he waited. 

“My cousin is the exalt and I’m the second in the line. If she had any children that would change, but she’s made it very clear that she has no desire to start a family. She’s much more focused on running the country. So ever since I was born and until the day I die I’ll be the second in line.” 

“You’re jealous of her?” 

“Absolutely not!” Odin fired up with indignation. Niles just stared at him and he deflated a little and admitted, “Well, maybe a little. I don’t know if I would be a good ruler or not… But Lucina is a great. I don’t want to take the throne from her. It’s just that... Being the second in line is so much worse than just being in charge. It’s stifling. If I was the exalt, I could run around in the kingdom like Lucina, visiting important dignitaries and taking care of the people! But if anything happens to her on her adventures, _someone_ has to be alive to succeed her throne. And that someone is currently me. So the number one priority for the kingdom in regards to me is… Keeping me alive.” 

Odin sighed and Niles kept quiet for a moment. He didn’t know what to say. For the first time since they met, this conversation was making him realize that Odin was a prince on a real level that he hadn’t considered before. 

“I want to be perfectly clear,” Odin started again. His tone was firm again, and it was a little reassuring. “I don’t want to overthrow Lucina. I love her and she’s very good at being the exalt. _Much_ better than I could ever be, I’m sure. But being locked away in a palace because my one job in life was to not die _just in case_ was not my style either.” His gaze lifted to the stars and a little spark ignited in his eyes. A small, genuine smile made its home on his lips and Niles had never before in his life had such an urge to kiss someone. But he held back as Odin softly said, “I don’t want to be kept safe. I want to be a hero.” 

There were several things Niles could have said to this that would be flattering in nature. And under any other circumstance, he absolutely would have taken those opportunities. But the stars twinkled in his peripheral vision as he watched Odin. Like they were whispering to him. In place of his usual urge to get laid was a sensation that was entirely new to him… The urge to help someone other than himself grow. 

“Odin, how can you become a hero up here in the clouds?” he asked, and he was probably being the most sincere he had ever been in his entire life. “There are no people here to protect. No lands to explore. It’s just you, me, and two grumpy old giants and that’s it.” 

He waited while this sunk in for Odin. And sink in it did. A heavy sigh floated into the air and Odin admitted, “You’re right, of course. There’s almost no difference between being up here forever or being in the palace back home forever. Except one is significantly more comfortable and less lonely. I don’t intend to stay here forever, though. Just until enough time has passed for people on the ground to forget they are looking for me.” Then he grinned at Niles and gestured to the sky. “Besides, I don’t want you to have to give this up yet.” 

When one door closes, another one opens. Niles might have skipped his opportunity to charm Odin tonight, but it was just thrown right back at him in full force. He reached up to rub Odin’s cheek and pulled him for that kiss. 

A few minutes later, as Niles was laying underneath Odin looking up at the night sky, he tried to remind himself that it was the only things he truly loved in this world. It was hard to focus, however, when those freckles and love bites on the shoulder he was looking over blended in with those magnified stars. 

\--- 

The rumbling of the giant’s voice woke Niles up early the next morning. For a moment, he was in fight or flight mode. He flung up into a sitting position and grabbed the bow sitting beside him. It took a few minutes for his brain to process where he was or what was happening, but his body was ready for battle. 

It was dark and nothing was coming at him right away. He was in a wall, the same place he had been sleeping for days. Odin was curled up at his side, still fast asleep and snoring softly. They hadn’t been discovered yet. They were still safe. He lowered his bow and instead focused all of his attention on his ears, trying to pick up the conversation that had woken him. 

“They’re here for my goose,” the giant grumbled. “It’s happening again.” 

“Nothing is happening,” said what was probably a more feminine voice, though it was still a deeper register than Niles was used to hearing. “That human last time created chaos from the moment he walked into this house. But everything has been still and normal. You’re imagining it.” 

“Stop telling me that.” There was some thunderous steps and then giant finished with, “I’m not going to play games this time. They are going to wish they weren’t born.” 

Their mild bickering continued on as a door opened and their footsteps walked away. It was harder to hear them when they weren’t very near by, but Niles caught a few words like ‘poison’ and ‘traps.’ He was awake now, to say the least. 

Odin had continued sleeping through the whole ordeal and Niles wasn’t sure he was going to be much use right away. But there was something about that conversation that he was dying to figure out. He unconsciously made sure that the washcloth was keeping Odin’s mostly bare body warm, and then set off on a little solo adventure. 

They hadn’t quite explored the entire house. It was huge, and there were certain rooms that always seemed to have one of the giants in them when they tried to enter. It was one of these rooms that Niles decided he wanted to explore now. A little closet or a storage room across the hall from the bedroom where the beanstalk was hidden that the male giant had been very protective of ever since that day he had smelled human blood. But he wasn’t there now. He was in his workshop, presumably building gigantic mice traps. Niles had been curious about the room for a while. People only guarded what was precious to them. And now was a good a time as any to find out what was so special about this one. 

They had been sleeping close to the beanstalk ever since they arrived. It was both a dangerous idea and a precaution. On the one hand, the giants could smell them if they got to close, and the beanstalk was in a wall of their bedroom. On the other, if they needed to make a hasty retreat, that was their only exit out of the clouds. So they hid behind the dresser, which shared a wall with their hole, and hoped that was thick enough to mask their scent. So far it had gone well. 

Niles didn’t know how to get across the hall using the walls, so he would have to walk across into the rooms normally. Cautiously, he poked his head out of the hole next to the beanstalk. There were no giants and, luckily, the door to the room was cracked open. He edged his way out and carefully dashed across the hall. 

That door was shut, of course. It didn’t seem like either of the giants were anywhere nearby, however, so Niles took his time examining the situation. The gap under the door wasn’t quite big enough for him, there were no entrances into the walls that he could see, the door was locked so there was no hope of pushing it open. 

Something irregular caught his eye after a moment. Part of the door was colored a little differently. It was made out of a slightly darker wood. It was very hard to see, but Niles did and he pushed his weight into it. To his delight, it popped right through. Someone had prepared a perfectly hidden human sized hole in this door. Niles prepared himself to find something really good inside. 

It was a room with several tall tables. He and Odin had both become quite acrobatic since climbing up into this world, so he had very little trouble scaling the table legs to the top. Once he was done, his eye widened. 

There was a ton of treasure on the table, for one thing. It was like the dragon hoard, except everything was much larger. There were gold pieces as tall as Niles was. There was a harp propped up against the wall that was gilded all over. Most notable however, there was a cage with a white bird, that was large by Niles standards, sleeping inside of it. 

One long feathered neck coiled around the front of the bird and tucked under a pure white wing. Its chest was pulsing rhythmically as it breathed. And a couple of massive golden eggs laid in the cage around it. Niles had hit the jackpot. 

As he was inspecting the layout of the room from above, marking all of his exits, and also trying to figure out how to open the cage, one more object of importance caught his eye. It was a shirt pinned the wall. A human sized, old green shirt. Stained in blood. And Niles remembered the giant’s voice that morning talking about traps and poison and ‘last time’. And he started to work a little faster. 

Niles always had his lock picking tools with him. In normal circumstances, he was almost quicker with them than someone using a correct key for any given lock. However, this cage was built a little bit large than what Niles was used to working with. His tools didn’t quite fit the gears, but since he could actually see inside the gigantic lock hold, which was right at his eye level, it just took a struggling extra moment before it opened with a satisfying click. 

The click woke up the bird, who extended its long neck and blinked drowsily. Before it could fight back in anyway, Niles hopped onto its lowered back and grabbed his neck. The goose let out a loud, obnoxious honk. 

Thundering footsteps immediately started to move in the room above Niles. 

He quickly pulled the goose’s head toward him and wrapped a rope around its beak to create a little harness for himself. By now the bird was so agitated, it a was thrashing its head and struggling its way out of the cage. But the door to the room was still closed. 

The goose didn’t care. It just wanted this pesky man off its back. It spread its wings and leapt off the table, still honking loudly. Niles held on for dear life, both to the reigns and the bird’s actual neck. It threw itself against the door, the walls, some of the treasures lying about. Once it ran into the harp and from that moment on continuous beautiful music accompanied the screeching and the thrashing. 

Niles had a plan, but even he was willing to admit it wasn’t a good one. Perhaps he was being influenced too much by Odin these days. Either way, at this point, escape was his only option and he had to wait for a way out. 

It came very quickly. The door wrenched open violently and as soon as the giant saw what was happening, he let out a loud roar of anger. He reached for the bird, but flew up over his head, too fast for his lumbering movements, and zoomed out the door. 

Using the reigns, Niles was able to control the bird a little bit. He got it, crashing and thrashing, into the bedroom across the hall, thankful that his exit wasn’t far away. He and the bird squeezed in through the hole in the wall, where the bird started to panic even more, directing its body toward the beanstalk. Niles couldn’t keep it calm anymore and the rumbling of the giant was entering the room. He started to shout. 

“Odin! Wake up you idiot! We gotta go!” 

Odin was up alright. All of the crashing and the lumbering had gotten him to his feet in a second. He looked at Niles on the bird, and then the hole, which a second later was ripped away as the giant started to claw into the wall. One giant eye peered at them and a booming voice shouted, “I knew it!” Then the wall started to crumble under his desperate attempts to get to them. 

Niles held out a hand for Odin to help him up onto the bird. Once he was secure, Odin shouted, “What did you do?!” 

Niles didn’t know how to answer that question given the time they had so he said, “Hold on tight!” 

He finally let the bird fall out of the hole that the beanstalk grew up out of just as the giant’s meaty hands were able to get into the wall and grapple for them. He missed and instead grabbed the beanstalk. In his fury he pulled hard enough that all the way down on the ground, the roots of the beanstalk ripped apart. The beanstalk soared upwards as the bird plummeted downwards, completely parallel with it. And Odin and Niles watched it, in slight wonder, letting the consequences of what they had done sink in. 

No one would be visiting the giants in the sky any time soon. Let alone the wanted Prince Owain of Ylisse. 

The struggling of the bird smoothed out when they passed the bottom of the beanstalk. They were much closer to the forest now. Niles could feel Odin’s heart thrumming against his back his back as he clung on. It could have been from adrenaline or from fear. Or both. 

They touched the forest floor and the goose unceremoniously shrugged them both off. They were too stunned and tired from the stress of what had just happened to cling on much more. With her unwanted riders gone, she leapt back up into the sky and soared off into the sunrise. Niles clicked his tongue in agitation. 

“So much for getting wealthy off of this,” he murmured, as if it was the only reason he had set the goose free. 

Odin crawled over the new hole in the ground and deflated beside it. Niles placed a gentle hand on his back in apology. He didn’t really mean it, of course. This was, in his opinion, the best case scenario. 

“Let me make this up to you,” he started and Odin looked up at him wearily. “I know a place where we can hide for a little while. A little cottage owned by someone that owes me a debt. I wasn’t going to cash it in, but now I owe you. So let's go.” 

Odin nodded and seemed to perk up a little. They left quickly, fearing that the commotion they had caused would call all the bounty hunters in the land directly to the former home of the beanstalk that grew into the clouds. 

\--- 

Odin trusted Niles. That much was very clear. And so far, he had earned it. Besides all of their more intimate exchanges, he had covered for Odin and fought alongside him in all of their crazy adventures. When every important person in Ylisse’s ally kingdom of Hanau found out that Odin was a lost prince, Niles was the only one who had helped him escape to preserve his freedom. 

All of that trust and respect and affection that Odin unconditionally threw his way made Niles sick. 

They reached the safe house in the evening a day later. The forest was long behind them, opening up to rolling farms. The sunset was bright and clear and colorful on the horizon. There weren’t any people for miles, just a few herds of cattle grazing here and there. And this shack of a building, which had a light on inside. 

Odin hesitated when he saw it, but Niles put a reassuring hand to his lower back. “It’s okay. It’s just my friend. He’ll see that we’re settled and then he’ll leave and make sure no one bothers us.” 

Odin swallowed and nodded. “Of course. I trust you.” Niles tasted the bile in his mouth. They walked on. 

“You know, in hindsight, this is a much better idea than mine,” Odin started, feeling chatty all of the sudden. “Living in a giant’s home wasn’t a good idea. But at least we got to see them right? There probably aren’t many people alive on this planet that can say the same.” 

Niles hummed and reached for the door handle, now that they had arrived at their destination. 

“And it’s like you said, several people down here on earth exalt those giants as if they are gods. I’m sure they would be thrilled to hear the harrowing tales of how we-” 

The door opened and a man was standing just behind it, silhouetted in the light of the house. He sighed and let out a soft, “Owain… Thank god.” 

Odin stopped talking. Niles still had a hand placed firmly to his back and he leaned into it, as if he might run. His green eyes went wide and his breath came out short as he hissed, “Inigo… What…” Then he turned to Niles, complete horror written all over his expression and Niles tried to ignore how his heart broke at the sight of it. “Niles, what’s going on?” 

With the hand on his back, Niles pushed Odin inside and closed the door behind him. There was another person in the room, a woman with red pigtails seated on the bed. She sat with her arms and her legs crossed and when she saw Odin she stood up and tossed Niles a bag that jiggled. “Thanks for returning the prince to us,” she said. “That’s half of the bounty. You’ll get the other half when he’s safely in the borders of Ylisse again.” 

Niles turned the bag over in his hands and frowned. “You want me to help escort him?” 

“That’s the deal,” she said rather smugly. “The safe return of the prince to Ylisse.” 

“Besides, we could use another pair of eyes,” the man with silver hair said to Niles as he gently pried Odin away from his grip and more into the center of the room. “You’re not quite what I imagined… But Owain trusts you, so we will too.” 

Odin was glaring at Niles now, with a fury in his eyes that he had never seen before and Niles wondered if that was still true. It had been once, for sure. But this was the look he had truly deserved this whole time. And it was the last time Odin looked or spoke to him for several days as they began their journey back to Ylisse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((Exalted means a person held in HIGH regard. GET IT? GET IT, THEY’RE HIGH UP BC THEY’RE IN THE SKY. *cough* anyway...))


	4. Book of Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I hope you're having a good post-Zerodin week day! Here's a little after party for you, since I'm two days behind. It's my day 4 prompts, scars! (Wherein I think I wrote the words 'scar' like 4 times, therefore it counts lmfao)
> 
> I'm not abandoning this fic, by the way, even though Zerodin week is over. I will write the last chapter, (which is really more of an epilogue) don't worry about it! I promise! It'll be out VERY SOON. Thank you all for reading and being patient and leaving your comments!!
> 
> Seriously, I can't stress this enough, Zerodin is my OTP and it's kind of rare to find work for it. I'm OVERFLOWING with gratitude that this week went well and I love EVERYTHING I have seen for it so far. I'm going to be reading and re-reading all the fics and drooling over the arts for like years to come. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR MAKING THESE BOYS KISS <3

The messenger was panting heavily when he burst through the doors to the throne room. Lucina looked up from the document she was pouring over in her lap and gave him a quizzical look. “What’s the matter?” she asked, because he was frantic.

“A message from Inigo and Severa in Hanau,” the boy panted out. In the moments right before he spoke his next words, Lucina also noticed that he was grinning. “They found Prince Owain! They’re on their way back!” 

The exalt stood up in her excitement, her long robes billowing out behind her as she ran to embrace the poor messenger. Since she was currently holding daily court, there were several other lawmakers and people of authority gathered around the walls of the room and they all started to cheer. One in particular, Owain’s mother, rushed to to the messenger too, tears of joy streaming down her face. 

The impromptu celebration carried on for a little while. No one quite felt like going back to what they were doing knowing the Owain was in safe hands and coming back to them. But then a tall, black robed figure stood out of the shadows in the middle of the room and some of the cheering died away. Lucina eyed the figure, her smile slipping and her suspicion mounting. Had that person been in her palace long? Since when? And why hadn’t she noticed? 

“This would be the very same Prince Owain who was in the Hanau palace a month ago, correct?” asked a female voice from inside the hood of the cloak. 

“Announce yourself, stranger,” Lucina demanded, putting her aunt Lissa behind her as she advanced toward the figure. She made sure that the sword swinging on her hip was prominent. 

”The Prince Owain who defeated Rumplestiltskin, yes? I seem to recall it was him who used that magic mirror to melt the imp into nothing,” the figure went on, completely unafraid of Lucina. 

Lucina’s patience was growing thin. She unsheathed her sword and stopped just a few paces away from the intruder. Her guards at several exits around the room did the same and waited for her orders. “Remove your hood and reveal yourself at once, or I will have no choice but to assume you mean harm.” 

Slowly, hands began to lift. They were thin, long hands with dark pointed nails. They coiled around the edges of the hood and then pulled it back. 

The woman underneath was green and sharp. She had yellow eyes and long black hair that billowed down her back when it was freed. Two menacing horns coiled out of her head and wrapped around her face. When she grinned, all of her teeth were razor-like. “I am Maleficent,” she announced to the room. “The mother to all things that haunt your nightmares. Including that imp that your prince slayed in cold blood. Now his kingdom will pay the price.” 

Lucina braced her weapon and, with a battle cry, charged at the woman. But it was too late. She started to swirl her hands in the air, creating a little mist of black and green magic. Lucina froze, completely against her will. She couldn’t move a muscle and as she glanced around she realized she wasn’t the only one struggling. 

“Every citizen in this country within its borders will now sleep. And when the prince has arrived, he will sleep too. And you will sleep for eternity, neither dead nor quite alive. You will pay for the murder of my child in your nightmares.” 

One by one, members of the court started to fall to their knees and then the ground. Lucina fought the magic as hard as she could. She propped herself up on her sword and glared at Maleficent and grunted, “You will never… get away with this…” Then she collapsed, completely unable to do anything about her own threats. 

The queen of nightmares laughed loudly as her spell spread throughout the kingdom of Ylisse. Every citizen fell into a sleep and every visitor fled in terror. The sky darkened and black thorns crawled out of the palace, piercing the ground all around it to create a fortress where her spell could be protected. 

As the spell was completed, Maleficent quietly marched across the throne room. She kicked Lucina out of her way as she did, completely uninterested in the exalt. With a swipe of her hand, a little bed of black roses and thorns appeared before her. She touched it lightly, the perfect place for a prince to sleep for eternity. Then, she waited. 

\--- 

Nies only referred to Odin with formality when they were around the other two escorts. So needless to say, since they had been picked up he had gotten pretty used to using words like ‘your highness’ and ‘prince’ and ‘Owain’. 

They didn’t talk much when they were alone. Rather, they didn’t talk at all. To be fair, they weren’t alone much. The two Ylissean guards were pretty keen on keeping a tight perimeter around Odin. And even on the off chance they were split up, Odin still had trouble looking at Niles in the face let alone starting a conversation. 

Niles was grateful, if he was being honest. He had broken Odin’s trust, and probably his heart. Both of which were more than he ever deserved in the first place. Now he figured, if they kept and emotional distance from each other, it would be easier for Odin when they finally parted ways forever. He had absolutely no desire to make peace. 

One night, Odin and Inigo, who Niles had gathered pretty quickly was a close friend of his, snuck off to have a talk. They were gone for a long time. Niles sat in a tree to keep an eye on them, just in case Odin tried to bolt and it was too much for the soldier to keep up with him. They were too far away for him to hear the conversation of course, but that was fine. He didn’t care. He kept reminding himself of that. All he cared about was the money waiting for him in Ylisse, and the stars watching over their journey. 

Still, he found it mildly intriguing when Odin came back from that conversation holding his shoulder’s high and looking a little less pale than he had been lately. He even looked up into the tree that he knew Niles was sitting in and smiled. 

They were so close to Ylisse now, and they had been traveling for days. Niles knew they were overdue for a confrontation. It came the next morning, when Niles was alone by some water, washing his face. 

It must have said something about how much the conversation between Odin and Inigo changed things that they trusted him enough now to wander off by himself. He approached Niles quietly, completely alone, and sat by the stream. 

“I owe you an apology,” Odin started quietly. It was one of the softer voices Niles had ever heard him use. “I think what you did - bringing me to Inigo and Severa - was best for me. I was completely in denial about it, but I have a duty to Ylisse and it was immature of me to run away.” 

Niles just grunted, hoping that that would be enough for Odin to show that he had ‘accepted’ his apology and he would leave again. He splashed more water in his face, but Odin kept talking, this time with a little more of that classic excitement. 

“Besides, Inigo said that the council is willing to hear me out. They’re going to reevaluate some things and not be as overbearing as they have been. I might even be able to go on a few adventures with Lucina! Isn’t that great? I’ll get to explore my own country again. And it’s all thanks to you, Niles.” Then he reached out a hand and grabbed one of Niles’, interweaving their fingers together. 

Niles flinched at the touch. He took a moment to observe the situation, then shook free. He snarled, hoping that his contempt was clear. “I didn’t do anything for you,” he spat and Odin’s eyes went wide in shock. “You’ve seen the reward they’re giving away for your safe return, right? Everything I did, leading you away from other bounty hunters, trying to get you out of the clouds, that was all so I could collect the payment for myself. Nothing more.” 

His words didn’t take long to sink in. The hand that had just been holding his balled into a fist and Odin’s eyebrows knotted together in anger. “You’re lying. You’re important to me, Niles. And I know you feel the same. We’re-” 

“We’re what?” Niles butted in quickly. “We fuck, sure, but so what? We’re young and horny, it’s completely natural. There are no emotions tied to that whatsoever.” 

“Bullshit.” 

It was such a simple argument, and yet it made Niles flare up with indignation. He was not going to let Odin talk him into feeling things he didn’t. He turned to better face Odin so that his point could be made clearly. “I sold you out, Odin. That’s it. End of the story. You trusted me and I used that trust to make a pretty penny, and I’d do it again. I _will_ do it again, to many other people long after I am but a scar on your memory. You need to abandon those feelings and move on. You’re a prince, and I’m a sewer rat. We don’t belong together.” 

“I don’t care who you are or where you come from. I’m in love with you.” 

It was an arrow in his heart. Niles couldn’t deny that or turn the other way if he wanted to. Odin’s words stung him to his core. They grappled with him at a level that he couldn’t or refused to understand just yet. Maybe these feelings flickered across his face for a moment, but he squashed them down so fast, even he forgot they had been there. He scoffed as he piled dirt onto their grave. “Oh spare me. Your love should be reserved for a maiden that is going to give your country a lot of heirs to the throne. Don’t waste it on a murderer.” 

Odin blinked, some of his fire gone after his confession. He seemed to be a little drunk on his own embarrassment. “What?” 

“Remember that corrupt lord that controlled the city of Nottingham? Remember how you told me not to kill him and I said he had fallen to his death on accident? I lied. I lied to you from the moment I made that promise. Killing people is easy for me, and I had always been planning on taking his life. There was no hesitancy. And that’s just the tip of it. I’ve done so much worse in my life, and I have the scars to prove it.” 

“Scars are a proof of heroism,” Odin shot back. “Of bravery! You saved those people! Perhaps my request was a bit naive. You did what I could not and saved them from further suffering. Stop selling yourself short! You are not a bad man!” 

Niles was done with this. He was officially emotionally spent. Arguing with Odin was like arguing with a brick wall. He wouldn’t budge. He was the most stubborn person Niles had ever met and he should have taken that into consideration before he started this whole thing. All he could do now was laugh at the ridiculousness of Odin’s words. So he did. A little loudly. “You are crazy,” he chuckled. “You’re a hero, maybe, but I am the farthest thing from it. I’m selfish and rotten to my core. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can move on with your life. And you better do it quickly, because as soon as we get to the Ylissean border, you will never see me again.” 

Odin shouted out a few more protests, but Niles was already getting up and walking away. He didn’t leave completely, of course. He still had half a paycheck riding on the prince’s safe return. So he hopped up in a tree and watched as Odin yelled and cursed and kicked at the water trickling down the stream like a child. 

The argument, to Niles’ frustration, didn't end there either. Odin brought it up every moment they had alone, which were growing in frequency as the other two escorts grew to trust their prince more and more. Niles was pretty confident he wouldn’t bolt any time soon either. He was hellbent on proving himself right. Niles had just learned to tune him out and give him half replies or grunts, which just made his anger fire up even more. 

After a couple more days of this, Niles decided he’d had enough. They came to a sign in the road that read ‘Hanau/Ylisse Border Ahead’ and Niles cleared his throat. 

“I think I’m gonna beat it,” he said, more to the two soldiers than to Odin. 

“We haven’t reached the border yet,” Severa said in a dry tone. “If you leave now, you’ll be breaking your contract. Besides, they have the rest of your money at the palace.” 

Niles waved a hand in the air, brushing off her point. “It’s fine. Actually, half of the payment is plenty to settle me for a long time. Your prince seems more willing to go, and I figure you don’t need me. I don’t belong to that country, so at this point I’m just dead weight.” 

“If that’s what suits you…” Inigo said, and he shared a look with Severa. Inigo had never quite gotten used to Niles’ presence, or at least that was his observation. He had many opinions of what Niles seemed to be that were probably opinions Niles wished Odin shared. 

Speaking of, he turned now to his long time companion. Odin looked at him too with a pleading gaze, but didn’t say a word. Niles refused to believe he saw tears in those emerald eyes. Odin was strong and he knew that given time, he would forget all about Niles. 

So he held up a hand in farewell, said a quick, “Later,” and left. 

\--- 

A few weeks later, Niles found himself in Nottingham. 

The memory of how he had gotten there was kind of hazy. He had been pretty far to be at the edges of the country and it had taken him a while to find civilization. Then when he did, he struggled to pick up the pieces of his life where he had left them. Perhaps it was his subconscious that pulled him toward that city. It was, after all, where he had met Odin. It was the city where his life had been changed. At least for a little while. 

Everyone in the town seemed to be doing very well, which was good. And no one recognized him, which was better. Over drinks at the local bar, a farmer offered him a place to stay for cheap. So that night he found himself laying on a pile of hay outside a barn, looking up at a sky that sparkled so much brighter here. It was undeniable that the stars truly favored the town of Nottingham. 

Niles bounced the little bag of coins in his hand as he gazed at the sky. This farm was one of the luckier ones that had a wishing well on it. It was very close and twinkled as the magical water inside rippled in the wind. It almost seemed to keep in rhythm with the jingling of his coins. 

Curious, Niles rose to his feet and approached the well. The clear pool of water reflected a sky with many more stars than he was used to seeing. The new ones moved, skitted across the water’s surface, mimicking shooting stars and daring him to make a wish. 

Niles got out a coin and turned it over in his fingers. He thought about that night they had helped Nottingham, how the mist of stardust rained down the people and danced among them. He also thought about the clearer than ever view of the stars from a rooftop in the sky. 

He had seen so many versions of a starry night in the past month or so, and he loved every single one of them. Niles didn’t love many things in life. In fact, the stars were the only thing he could readily or willingly admit to loving. 

Looking down at the stardust now, however, his heart felt strangely crowded. He could see a face reflected in his memories. A smile that he associated with both of those tremendous nights. A voice that had once called him a ‘stargazer’, because he saw through Niles’ rough exterior into who he truly was and what he truly cared about. 

Niles gripped his head as a sudden pain arched through him. Realizing something that he had been denying himself for so long caused him physical distress. The emotion wracked his body and jumbled his mind. He had to grip the edges of the well just to keep from falling over. 

There was room in his heart for more than just the stars after all. 

When it was over and Niles had accepted his feelings, he glared down into the well again. It was too late. He had already seen Odin off. He had already put a barrier between them it was rock solid. They were officially in two different worlds and there was no use even trying to bridge that. But still the stardust twinkled at him, hungry for wishes. So he flicked the coin, a coin he had earned from selling Odin out to the people he was hiding from, into the water. It hit the surface with a plunk and Niles turned back to his hay stack, determined that if he got some sleep he would feel better in the morning. 

Almost as soon as his back was on the well, the sound of giant wing beats filled the air. Niles stiffened, then whirled around, taking a defensive stance in lieu of not having his bow directly on him. 

White feathers fell from the sky like a gentle snow. Looking through them with a soft sincerity in her beady black eyes was a large goose. A special goose, known particularly for the type of egg she laid. She perched on the edge of the well and settled her wings down. She looked so much tamer than when he had last seen her. And to his utter shock, when she opened her beak, words came out. 

“I have come to you with an apology and an offer of a favor,” she said plainly. “You freed me from my prison in the clouds, and for that I owe you greatly. I apologize for how I acted that day, of course. I was startled and it was rude of me. Now the stars tell me that you are in distress, so I came to make it up to you, Stargazer.” 

Niles blinked a few times. He looked to his left, then to his right. There was no one around. It was just him. The giant goose was talking to him. He looked at the well and then back up at her and said, because it was all he could think to say, “That was fast.” 

This seemed to agitate the bird. She sat back on her legs and flapped her wings, shouting, “This is no times for games! You must come with me quickly! This task I must help you with is urgent!” 

“Wait, you mean I don’t get to chose my own favor?” Niles asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “That seems a little unfair.” 

“I have chosen one that is in your best interest. We mustn’t delay. The kingdom of Ylisse is waiting for you.” Niles felt his heart skip a little. Odin wanted to see him, surely that was what the goose meant. As if she could read his mind, though, she added, “They are in danger.” The elation sunk into his gut instantly. 

“What kind of danger,” he asked as he gathered up his bow, quiver, and other few scattered belongings. 

“They’ve fallen victim to a terrible curse. The queen of nightmares, Maleficent, has put them all under a sleeping spell. She wants revenge on the Prince Owain for killing her creation, Rumplestiltskin the imp. The only people impervious to the spell are outsiders, but everyone in the neighboring countries are too afraid the enter Ylisse to help. They need a hero. You meet the qualifications to help, therefore, _you_ must be that hero.” 

Niles stalled by the well. “I only meet the qualifications because I’m an outsider? Then perhaps I’m not who you want for this job. I’m not a hero. There are plenty of heroes in this world and plenty who aren’t from Ylisse either.” 

The goose bowed her head in contemplation. Then she seemed to think of something and rose it again to his eye level. “Do you know what the best cure for any curse is, Stargazer?” 

“A counter curse?” Niles guessed lazily with a shrug. As far as he had always been taught, the best cure for curses was to find the rival witch of the one that had cursed you. 

“Of course not,” the goose scoffed, if a goose could scoff. “Curses are created out of pure hatred. The best, natural cure for that is true love.” 

Niles’ jaw fell open and for a moment as he let that sink in. Every fanciful legend he had heard as a child ran through his head. For many, there did seem to be one end-all curse breaker. But surely, that wasn’t what she was referring to. She couldn’t seriously be suggesting what he thought she was… Was she? 

“Before we depart,” the goose went on in lieu of Niles’ response. “Dip your arrows into the stardust well. The water will imbue them with a power you can use to defeat Maleficent.” 

Niles allowed himself just another second to be stunned by all this, then he tossed it aside. He would walk across fire to help Odin. He put his quiver into the bucket of the well and watched it fall into the clear waters. When they came back up, they were glittering because of the golden stardust clinging to them. They tingled a little bit in his touch and it reminded Niles of how Odin’s skin felt when he was excited about something. Charged and eager. Feeling a renewed sense of motivation, Niles mounted the goose who was waiting for him, and together they flew on toward Ylisse. 

\--- 

The first casualties Niles saw when they flew over the border were Inigo and Severa, the soldiers sent to collect Odin from Hanau. They had collapsed moments after crossing the border. Niles requested to land and check their pulse and the goose granted him just a moment. They were sleeping. And Odin was nowhere nearby. 

Their entire journey over Ylisse was shrouded in darkness and an eerie quiet. The country had been abandoned by those that could abandon it. Everyone else fell where they had been standing when the curse took effect. Sleeping people littered the streets like dead bodies. Niles looked down upon them all from the great goose’s back with horror. He had never seen dark magic so consuming and terrible. 

The palace was almost unrecognizable as a palace. Giant vines of black thorns broke out of the stone and clamped around the building possessively. “How will we get in?” Niles asked the goose. 

“There is a way from above,” she responded, and then started to dive toward the thicket. 

The door to the palace was completely overcome with thorns. But there was a window on the second floor that was open and the goose flew to it. It was barely big enough for Niles to squeeze in and therefore too small for her, so she hovered beside it and let him clamber onto the ledge. 

“So I have to do this alone, huh?” he asked. 

“There is nothing more I could do to help,” the goose responded. “But do not be afraid. The only weapons you need to defeat her are those arrows and your heart.” 

Niles nodded. He accepted this situation as it was. He had lived a long life full of terrible things and if this was the day he was going to die, then so be it. At least he would go down valiantly. He turned to enter the palace but the goose said one more thing that made him stop. 

“Just remember this, Stargazer. You _are_ a hero. And heroes always win.” 

Then the goose was gone, flying toward the top of the castle to await his victory. And it was just Niles with his stardust arrows. And his heart. 

He crept into the palace, bow at the ready. It was, like the rest of the kingdom, dark and quiet. Too quiet. He was acutely aware of the sound of his own breath and footsteps, which were already naturally light, and tried to make them even lighter. 

Eventually, using a common understanding of how most castles were built, Niles found the throne room. Or at least, he found the second floor balcony that wrapped around the room and looked down into the court. The people sleeping here were more ornately dressed than anywhere in the kingdom, so he thought he might have hit the jackpot. 

Then his eyes fell on the bed of roses at the head of the room. Black roses and dark thorns twisted up from the floor, creating a soft open casket-like bed for one person. A blonde person, covered in bruises and scars, with his hands crossed over his chest as if he was dead. But his lungs rose and fell steadily to show he was just asleep. And Niles’s heart fluttered both in relief and sadness. 

Standing beside the rose bed was a woman. The only one in probably the whole kingdom who wasn’t asleep. She had green skin and thick black horns. She leaned over Odin’s sleeping body and with a quick flick of her wrist, opened another thin wound on his forearm. Red blood trickled slowly down to his chest and he shuddered in his sleep. Niles felt the rage mounting within him. This beast was going to watch him slowly bleed to death. 

Niles wasted no more time. He lifted his bow and let loose an arrow. But the queen of nightmares tilted her head to the side just in time and the arrow sunk into the wall across from her. She whirled around instantly, fury etched on her sharp features. 

“Who is there?” she bellowed. “And why have you not fallen victim to my curse?” 

Niles didn’t respond. That would have been foolish. Instead he inched down the walkway and let out another arrow. This one she caught in midair right in front of her face. It sizzled in her hand and she dropped it. “What sort of magic is this? You must be an outsider. Do you think yourself a hero? Well, let me show you what I think of heroes.” 

Niles started to nock another arrow as quickly as he could, but stopped in shock when he saw what the sorceress was doing. She was growing. Her cape billowed out in a thick black scaly hide. Her face and neck stretched and contorted in a serpentine like fashion. Her horns spiraled even further out of her head with a sickening wrenching sound. And when it was all said and done, Niles was staring directly into the gaze of a two-story tall dragon. 

He booked it just as she let out a long stream of green and black flames at his location. The rock of the balcony began to crumble and Niles worried for the sleeping people below if it were to collapse, so he looked for a way down. He found a tapestry and slid down it, then ran to the center of the room where there were no people. Or at least, that should have been the case. 

To Niles’ horror, there was one person sleeping in the middle of the room. She had dark blue hair, long white robes, and was curled up next to a sword that Niles recognized from a famous legend he had heard somewhere. This was the exalt. Odin’s dear cousin, Lucina. 

Niles steered clear of her. He ran toward the giant doors of the room, knowing that they wouldn’t open due to the thorns holding them shut on the other side. He managed to pick up a shield from a sleeping armored guard on the way and just as Maleficent was throwing another stream of fire at him, he hid behind it. 

She stomped across the room toward him and sat back on her two hind legs. She was monstrous, though she barely fit in this room, large as it was. Her voice echoed all around him as it said, “You cannot stop me, foolish human! The prince is mine forever! I will prove to you mortals that nightmares are a force to be reckoned with!” 

Niles was cornered. He had his back against an immovable wall and his front facing a dragon that was dozens of times larger and more powerful than him. She was right in that respect. He was just a human. What human fought a dragon all on their own? 

Then an image flashed in his mind. The image of lightning and fire and smoke clashing in a cave, surrounded by golden objects. And Odin’s fearless cry of war. _He_ had fought a dragon and survived. Niles peeked around the edge of the shield and saw the bed of roses between the dragon’s legs. Odin looked so peaceful. Too peaceful. He was not a peaceful person. And he needed Niles to free him from that peace. 

The shield clanged to the ground as Niles dropped it to pick up his bow again. He nocked a shimmering arrow and aimed it right at the dragon’s heart. She let out a bellow of a scream and opened her mouth as if to make more fire, but the arrow was gone. And this time, it hit, and it pierced her right into the center of her being. And Niles felt a little swell of pride, because he did like it when his arrows found their intended mark. 

Her roar turned into a scream, and for a few minutes, she died. She withered and shrunk and melted into nothing, just as her evil imp creation had. When the last of her screams finally faded, a light filtered in through the windows around the room and the wrenching sound of thorns going back into the ground surrounded Niles. He let the rumbling go to its expiration, but when it was over, everyone in the room was still asleep. They slept in sunlight now, but sleep they did nevertheless. Niles rushed to the bed of roses and knelt beside it. 

Odin’s face looked troubled as he slept. His expression was contorted in pain and little beads of sweat dotted his skin all over. But his breathing was rhythmic and deep. Niles pressed his fingertips to the freshest scar and pulled away some bright red blood. So he tore off a piece of his cloak and placed it there, hoping to stop the bleeding. 

Niles gently touched the side of Odin’s face, then traced his lip with his thumb. He thought about what the goose had said about the cure for curses. He felt a little silly for just a moment, until he focused on the clamminess of Odin’s skin. He wiped away a bead of sweat and took a deep breath. Then he leaned in. 

The kiss, though soft and chaste, was electrifying. A little spark of static ignited between their skin. Niles didn't shy away from it. He had been shocked by Odin before. In fact, the little magical discharge made him smile into the kiss and press a little harder. He wanted to enjoy that charred, smoky taste that Odin gave. He wanted to hear his laugh, his moan, feel his fingers card through his hair. He wanted to see those electrifying emerald eyes. 

When Niles pulled away, he saw that he got his wish. Odin was blinking up at him drearily. “Mm, what… Happened,” he moaned and Niled pulled back so he could sit up. “Niles… What…” 

His question was lost as the sounds of many other people rousing from sleep filled the room. Some woke easier than others, but one by one every person in a radius out from Odin started to rise. A few of them even started to celebrate, whooping and jumping up as they realized what had happened. One woman in particular, with blonde pigtails, leapt her feet and rushed to Odin as soon as she was able. Niles stood and back away from the two as she peppered the prince in kisses and he hugged her back, laughing. 

At least, he started to back away, but he was met with resistance when he felt Odin tug on his arm. 

“Where are you going?” 

Niles blanched and shrugged. “Um, just thought I would give you a moment,” he muttered. 

“Niles… You saved us, didn’t you?” 

“I, uh, well…” He looked at the ground, not sure how to handle the pressure that was being flung his way from all directions. The woman with pigtails seemed to read the situation and moved away slowly, her eyes bulging out out of her head as she watched. He tried to shake the attention off, tried to focus on Odin. Niles lowered his voice. “I just used the oldest trick in the book.” 

“What’s that?” Odin asked. 

Niles leaned in toward Odin’s ear, not keen on sharing this moment with the rest of what he could only assume were his childhood friends and family. He hummed as he whispered, “True love’s kiss.” Odin faced him and a moment of smiles passed between them before Niles said, with all of the sincerity in his soul, “I’m sorry. I was wrong. I love you, Odin.” 

Odin pulled him in for a kiss in between his laughter. The people continued to celebrate. The sun illuminated the entire country. And the only remnant of the nightmares that had gripped Ylisse, were the scars in the stones left by the evil witch’s thorns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (((I’M NOT ABOVE A TRUE LOVES KISS, ARE YOU CRAZY, THIS IS A FAIRYTALE FIC, IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN, SORRY NOT SORRY AND YOU’RE WELCOME)))


	5. Happily Ever After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Shows up 2 days after the party "Am I late? :D"
> 
> SO HERE IT IS. MY LAST ZERODIN WEEK SUBMISSION, 50000 YEARS LATER. I'm sorry that I fell behind. I'm sorry that I missed your actual birthday, Niles. But here you go. The prompt for day 5 was Family or Birthday SO I DID BOTH. This chapter is a little bit shorter than the others, but it's just kind of a cute, domestic family epilogue.
> 
> I thanked y'all yesterday but I just wanna say again, THANK YOU for making Zerodin week so special and so successful! I'm in the process of reading all the other fics, since I was really focused on writing and haven't done that much. But everyone can look forward to comments from me if your work appeared on the Zerodinweek blog.
> 
> AND THANK YOU FOR READING THIS AND STICKING THROUGH IT. I hope this is just a little treat for y'all that were so nice and patient with me. THANKS. I'LL LET YOU READ THE FIC NOW. BYE.

Forests didn’t usually smell like a fresh batch of cookies. That particular aroma was usually reserved for bakeries and grandmas’ kitchens. But yet, this forest did.

The witch took the cookies out of the oven and placed them in her cottage’s window sill as she hummed to herself. It had the desired effect almost immediately. There was a knock at her door. She clapped her hands and rushed to answer it. 

A little girl (maybe four or five) stood on her doorstep. She was wearing a yellow and white striped dress with a big bow on the back. Like she was a gift. She had fluffy long hair the color of bright sunshine, and long lashes that fluttered over round green eyes. A delicious gift. 

“Is this _real_ candy?” the little girl asked, her tone full of wonder. She was, of course, referring to the cottage itself. It was made from siding of gingerbread and adhesive of icing and was covered in large gumdrops. Everything leading up to and making up the house was edible and sweet. It was any child’s dream come true. 

The witch smiled sweetly and ushered her visitor inside. “Of course, it is my dear. Would you like a cookie?” 

She offered up one of the new ones, still hot and melty, and the child took it without hesitation. “Thank you!” she said between mouthfuls. The cookie was as big as her head and it took two hands to eat. 

“There’s plenty more where that came from,” the witch said in a sing-song voice that mimicked a regular grandma. She knew that the children found it soothing and trustworthy. 

“Do you have some I can take home?” the little darling asked as she wiped crumbs off her face rather haphazardly. “I need some candy to put on my daddy’s cake.” 

“Oh! Is it your daddy’s birthday today?” the witch asked, pretending to be interested. 

“Uh-huh!” the girl exclaimed and she bounced in her seat. “My papa sent me to get some flour but I found this place instead and I think sweets will look better on a cake than dumb old flour anyway.” 

The witch hummed to herself and pretended to look around. “Well, I think I might have the perfect thing for you, as a matter of fact. Oh! Silly me, I know where it is.” 

She leaned down and popped open her oven. It didn’t really look like an oven, it looked more like a colorful box. But it was still warm from the cookies and the witch knew that it would be fine if she went ahead and executed her plan now. This child seemed to be in a hurry after all. “It’s in here, but would you be a dear and fetch it for me? I’m afraid I’m just not quite as good at crawling around as I used to be.” 

The girl hopped over politely to inspect the oven. She peeked in and looked around for a few seconds. The witch was almost tempted to just kick her in, but as she was having that thought something shot right through her giant beehive hair and plunked into the wall behind her. 

The witch whirled around and was surprised to find another child standing in her doorway. If not for the fact that she hadn’t heard the door open again, it was because this child was holding a bow with the expertise of someone who knew how to use one. She was a little older than the other child (10 or 11), but they had many similarities such as long blonde hair. Though this one’s was a little messier and pulled into twin braids. And her face was much less friendly. 

“Sissy!” cried out the younger child gleefully, and she hopped away from the oven to hug the other girl’s leg. The girl did not lower her bow. Her unoccupied hand was hovering over her quiver behind her. 

Fortunately, the witch had dealt with suspicious children before. She smothered her fury and put on a warm, welcoming smile. “Oh dear me, are you this little girl’s sister? Well, the more the merrier! Why don’t you take a seat at my table and I’ll get you a sweet snack so we can-” 

“Cut the crap, witch,” the girl snapped. She pulled out an arrow and witch was able to see, with little flutter of astonishment, that it was not a regular arrow. It had some form of bright glitter on it, and it twinkled a little bit when it was jostled. Her little sister ducked behind her leg now, sensing the hostility. “I know what you’re trying to do here. I read about you in a legend. Your days of baking children into pies are over.” 

“Oh you’re a clever one, aren’t you?” the witch asked. She dropped all pretense tenderness, but didn’t quite consider her plan vanquished yet. “Who do you think you are that you can beat me so easily?” 

“For your information, I am Nina, the future Exalt of Ylisse.” 

The witch quite literally felt fear descend upon her. She glanced at the girl’s bare forearm, pulled back with a taut arrow, and noticed the brand. It was so subtle, only a shade darker than her natural skin tone. Then she looked again at the arrow pointing directly at her face and cursed herself for not making the connection sooner. Her next words came out in a breathless stutter. “Then… That would mean… You’re… His…” 

“That’s right,” said the girl, and she grinned as she did. “I’m the daughter of The Silver Stargazer.” 

\--- 

The sun was filtering in through a white curtain that drifted lazily in the breeze. Niles was spread out across the empty bed and the room was peaceful. Too peaceful. Now that he was awake, he entertained the idea, however briefly, of getting out of the bed to search for his husband. But a larger part of his brain shut that idea down instantly. It was probably already mid morning and that meant that he had been allowed to sleep in for a bit today. Grateful, he rolled over and let out a breath of satisfaction. 

A few minutes later, Owain did come back. He was carrying a tray of food which he set on the bedside table before literally pouncing on top of Niles. Niles sat up so that Owain could straddle him and they kissed slowly, savoring every moment. And maybe a little static electricity pricked at Niles’ lips as they did, but he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. 

“Happy Birthday,” Owain said after a moment. 

Niles scoffed. “Don’t you mean ‘Happy National Stargazing Day’?” 

Owain let out an airy laugh and said, “That’s not even an official holiday yet.” 

“Well it will be before long if your mother has anything to say about it,” Niles hummed. 

“But this year, it’s still _just_ your birthday I’m afraid,” Owain said. He hopped off of Niles and started to prepare the tea that was sitting on the tray with the rest of the fairly nice breakfast he had made. Honestly Niles was impressed. He knew that Owain could cook, but he did it so seldomly, what with an entire team of chefs working for them day and night, that it still shocked him whenever he did. “So what do you want to do today? How do you want to spend probably one of your last regular birthdays before it becomes a nation-wide celebration?” 

Niles sighed contentedly and leaned back into his bed once again when Owain handed him the cup of tea. If he were to answer honestly, he would say that all he wanted to do was stay in this bed with his lover and not leave for anything. But Owain’s energy was unmistakable. It was hard to hide how one was feeling when one literally sparked with electricity anytime they were excited. 

“I guess we could go hunting,” Niles suggested, and he could tell by the way Owain’s hair rose with static that he had said the right answer. “Maybe I can teach Ophelia how to hold a bow. She’s been pestering me about it for months ever since she saw Nina get that pheasant last…” 

Niles trailed off because as he was talking his gaze had naturally drifted to the spot where he kept his weapons at all times. Right by the bed were his bow, his belt with a few knives in it, but not- “Where are my arrows?” 

Owain followed his gaze at the empty space on the floor. Then he looked back up at Niles and they whispered a simultaneous, “Nina,” before rushing out the door. 

\--- 

To the young fathers’ relief, they didn’t have to search long for their daughters or the missing arrows. As they were approaching the front gate of the palace, a large no-nonsense looking guard was entering. In one arm he was holding up little Ophelia, who was wailing and clutching a brown bag that looked like it was stuffed full of something. In the other, he was gripping the wrist of Nina, who was struggling against him and yelling, “UNHAND ME AT ONCE OR YOU’LL BE SORRY! JUST WAIT UNTIL MY DAD HEARS ABOUT-” She happened to look up and lock eyes with Niles, which made her deflate instantly. “Oh. Hey dad.” Her own bow and the stardust arrows were both slung across her back. 

The guard came to a stop in front of Owain and Niles and set Ophelia on the ground. With her fathers now present, he also felt safe enough to release Nina. “They were in the woods nearby,” he reported levelly. “Someone saw them leave and reported it to us and we retrieved them as fast as we could. Fortunately, we got to them just in time. It seems as though they had found a witch.” 

“A witch?” Owain asked and Niles could see a little flicker of anger cross his green eyes. 

“She’s in custody,” the guard explained. “And the girls are unharmed.” 

Owain nodded. “Thank you soldier. I’ll be sure to tell your supervisor what a good job you did today. You’re dismissed.” The guard nodded and turned to leave, giving the family private space. It was time for the scolding to commence. 

Niles knew where to start. He looked at Nina and crossed his arms across his chest threateningly. “Want to tell me why you were with a witch?” 

“Ophelia wanted some candy to put on your birthday cake,” Nina explained, and she nudged her little sister pointedly to which the five year old held out the bag she was clutching. It was sticky and so were her hands. “And this witch had a candy house so Ophelia went inside and when I figured out where she was I took my bow and-” 

“You _fought_ a _witch_?!” Owain hissed. 

“I _defeated_ a witch,” Nina corrected, rather indignantly. “She was going to eat children! It was lucky we got there before anyone else and taught her a lesson!” 

Niles groaned and rubbed the crease of wrinkles between his eyes. “Go inside,” he said in a low, angry voice. “Now.” 

Ophelia ran up to him and hugged him with her sticky hands, whispering a precious, “I’m sorry, daddy,” before she scampered up into the palace with her bag full of candy. 

Nina was much less willing, but she still obeyed. Though she spat a resentful, “I hate that stinkin’ palace,” as she marched on by. Niles turned his head to monitor how Owain was feeling about this. What he found was anxiety, and Niles knew that what Nina had said struck a chord with him. 

Owain’s greatest fear was that his daughters, as princesses of Ylisse, would go through exactly what he had gone through as a child. What he had run from. Especially Nina who, as the oldest child heir to the throne, was almost guaranteed to be the exalt one day. So Niles felt a little guilty when he saw that look on Owain’s face, and he knew that his husband shared that guilt. 

Then, rather suddenly, Niles had an idea. 

\--- 

With their daughters basically grounded, Niles and Owain didn’t go hunting. In fact, the rest of the day was spent somewhat morosely. The sun set and the moon rose and he found himself in the twilight of his birthday alone in his room in the big window seat. 

It was an installment Owain had made just for him. Set on the side of the room with a great view of the moon, it was big enough to fit three or four people on comfortably. The window was tall, spanning upwards so that even when he was indoors acting as a nobleman and the husband to a prince, Niles would never miss the stars. 

He was doing that when the door to his room creaked open slowly. First there was Ophelia, dressed up in her night clothes and looking like the little drop of sunshine she always was. Then Nina, also dressed for bed. She was still pouting, it seemed, but she at least she didn’t look angry anymore. Finally, Owain, holding a giant, gaudy looking cake that was covered in chunks of unidentifiable candy. 

As they got closer, Niles raised his eyebrow at the cake, to which Owain sheepishly admitted, “I thought it would be a shame to throw it all away. It is still your birthday, after all.” 

Ophelia wasted no time in crawling up the ledge to Niles’ lap. “I’m sorry I ran away, daddy,” she said, for maybe the hundredth time that day. “I hope you like your cake anyway.” 

Niles couldn’t resist her. He kissed the top of her head and said, “It looks delicious, love.” Then, just to double check, he glanced at Nina, who was hovering near Owain and looking at her feet with a pained expression. He sighed, and decided it was time to employ that idea from earlier. “You know what? I’ve decided to give you guys a present.” 

Nina looked up just a little and narrowed her eyes. But Ophelia gasped in wonderment. “I thought I wasn’t supposed to get presents on other people’s birthdays, though,” she said, barely containing her excitement regardless. 

“Not usually,” Niles hummed. “But this one is different. It’s for all of us. I’ve decided that next week, we’re going to leave for a bit on a little family adventure.” 

This did the trick. Nina brightened up immediately and Ophelia started bouncing in his arms. “Where?!” Nina asked, leaning towards him eagerly. 

“Somewhere you have never been. My home before I came to Ylisse. Hanau.” 

Nina squealed. She literally outright, bounced on her heels and let out a little cry of joy. It flooded Niles’ heart with warmth. “Can we go to Nottingham?! Can I get my own stardust arrows?! Can we got to the forest where the beanstalk used to be?! Can we see the magic mirror in the Hanau Palace?!” 

Niles chuckled. “We’ll do some of that, sure.” 

Like a flash of lightning, Nina was already at the bookshelf and back with a thick silver-bound tome. Owain had to set aside the sickeningly sweet looking cake so she could thrust it into his arms as she cried, “Can you read it tonight?! So we can start studying! So we’re ready!” 

Owain glanced at Niles and Niles shrugged in response so he chuckled. “Of course I can.” He lifted the cover and cleared his throat just as Nina was throwing herself into Niles’ side on the cushion, snuggling up close even though she was vibrating with anticipation. “The Legend of the Silver Stargazer!” Owain announced proudly, striking a brief pose before he turned to the first page. 

It took maybe thirty minutes for the girls to fall asleep. It wasn’t because they were bored by the story, Niles was begrudgingly sure, but perhaps because they’d had a stressful day and they had already heard it a million times. Ophelia was out first. Almost instantly in fact. She curled up in Niles’ lap and snored softly, her soapy clean hands tangled in his shirt. Nina lasted much longer, of course, posing at integral times with Owain throughout the story as if this was a rehearsed dance they did together. But right around the part where Niles was freeing the giant goose from a cage in the clouds, her eyes started to droop. 

Owain didn’t notice quite as quickly. In fact, he was still _very_ much into his storytelling performance. His volume started to climb so much as he described falling from the sky that Niles had to clear his throat when he finally felt Nina’s head bump into his shoulder. 

Owain paused in his dramatics and blinked at Niles like he was coming out of a trance. “Shut up you dork, you’ll wake them up,” Niles hissed for added motivation. Though he did laugh a little as he said it. “Besides, it’s going to get really weird really fast if you’re just reading a story about my own life out loud to me.” 

Owain blushed a little, but he set the book aside gently, next to the untouched cake. “We usually read it when you’re not in the room,” he said quietly as he took a seat in the window sill as well, across from his mostly sleeping family. 

“Talking about me behind my back, eh?” Niles hummed. “With my own daughters, no less.” 

“They admire you. I think it’s sweet.” Owain smiled softly and the moon hit his face just right. He glimmered like starlight. Niles had to swallow a thick lump in his throat. 

“Yeah,” he grunted, trying to shrug off the emotion. “Well, it’ll be nice to get away from this place for a little while. I don’t _hate_ the attention, but sometimes being a local celebrity is stifling.” 

“I’m just going to assume you got permission for this trip from the council before you announced it to our children,” Owain said plainly. 

Niles could only shrug to that, but he did it gently so as to not disturb the sleeping girls draped all over him. “I will.” 

Then, because it seemed like Owain might chastise him a little bit, he shifted how Ophelia sat in his lap and opened his now free arm. Owain didn’t protest much at all. Niles knew he couldn’t actually be mad if they left without permission, he was too excited himself to get some fresh air. And honestly, with the way the council had lightened up in the past few years, there was almost no way they were going to turn the request down. Especially for their beloved Hero of Ylisse, the Silver Stargazer. So Owain obliged his quiet request and crawled across the seat so they could watch the night sky together. 

And in the end, Niles got to spend his birthday the way he’d originally wanted to: relaxed and squished between the three things he loved more than even the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Ps. Just in case you're interested, my next fic is going to be another multichapter Zerodin thing I've been working on for quite a while actually. The first chapter will go up soon, maybe within in the next couple of weeks. It's cute and fluffy and involves Ophelia and Nina. So maybe if you're interested, subscribe? or just keep an eye out, it'll defo be in the tags. Anyway. Thank you for reading. bye for real now :) )


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